WALES

EU Membership

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the net benefits to people in Wales of the UK’s membership of the EU.

David Jones: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Delyn (Mr Hanson) and the hon. Members for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan) and Ogmore (Huw Irranca-Davies), earlier today.

Trade: EU Countries

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the level of trade undertaken by businesses in Wales with countries in the EU.

David Jones: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Delyn (Mr Hanson) and the hon. Members for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan) and Ogmore (Huw Irranca-Davies), earlier today.

ELECTORAL COMMISSION COMMITTEE

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the ranked order of spending per person on electoral registration by local authorities was for the last year for which figures are available.

Gary Streeter: A copy of the information requested by the hon. Gentleman has been placed in the Library.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, which local authorities have initiated proceedings for failure to complete and return an annual electoral registration return in the latest period for which figures are available.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that the following electoral registration officers (EROs) reported that they had initiated prosecutions as a result of a failure to respond to the 2012 annual canvass:
	East Staffordshire;
	Gravesham;
	Nottingham;
	London borough of Tower Hamlets;
	Warrington.
	The commission also informs me that it is in the process of analysing the detailed registration data relating to the 2013 canvass, and that once this work has been completed, it will publish the full data set, which will include information on which local authorities initiated proceedings for failure to complete and return an annual canvass form in 2013.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, which local authority had the biggest percentage (a) increase and (b) decrease in electoral registration in each year since 2010.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that there are no reliable yearly estimates of levels of registration at a local authority level.
	The Office for National Statistics publishes total electorates for each local authority on an annual basis. This data can be found here:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pop-estimate/electoral-statistics-for-uk/2013/index.html

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, if the Electoral Commission will make a copy of its recommended registration form for individual electoral registration available to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee; and if he will place a copy of that form in the Library.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that a copy of the relevant information will be sent to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee. Copies will also be placed in the Library. The Commission has provided EROs with English and Welsh language versions of its form designs, in both colour and mono.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, with reference to the answer of 13 June 2011, Official Report, column 586W, on electoral register, how many (a) written and (b) oral representations the Electoral Commission has received on electoral registration matters from hon. Members from the (i) Labour, (ii) Conservative and (iii) Liberal Democrat parties in each year since 2010.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that it no longer holds information in the format requested. However, the Commission answers parliamentary questions about all aspects of its work and meets regularly with a range of hon. Members to discuss issues relevant to its work, including on registration matters. This includes meetings with Parliamentary parties, a range of meetings with individual MPs and meetings with its Parliamentary Advisory Group, minutes of whose meetings can be found on its website here:
	http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/our-work/who-we-are/governance-and-decision-making/parliamentary-advisory-group.
	Details of the Chair of the Commission’s external meetings are also published on an annual basis and can be found on its website here:
	http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/our-work/who-we-are/executive-and-management-team

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, with reference to the answer of 5 July 2011, Official Report, column 1103W, on electoral register, which electoral registration officers rated themselves too highly in their self-assessment and had their ratings reduced in each year for which data is available.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that information about those electoral registration officers (EROs) whose assessments it revised to ‘below the standard’ in each of 2008, 2009 and 2010 is available in the answer provided on 5 July 2011, Official Report, column 1103W.
	Those EROs whose assessments the commission has revised to ‘below the standard’ in 2011 and 2012 are shown in the following list.
	2011
	Performance Standard 3
	Angus
	Arun
	Braintree
	Broxbourne
	Castle Point
	Chichester
	Clackmannanshire
	East Ayrshire
	East Devon
	East Dorset
	East Hertfordshire
	East Lothian
	Edinburgh, City of
	Falkirk
	Fife
	Gravesham
	Great Yarmouth
	Hart
	Maldon
	Malvern Hills
	Medway
	Merthyr Tydfil
	Midlothian
	Milton Keynes
	Mole Valley
	North Ayrshire
	North Devon
	North Lanarkshire
	North Somerset
	North Warwickshire
	Perth and Kinross
	Powys
	Rhondda, Cynon, Taff
	Sedgemoor
	Shropshire
	Solihull
	South Ayrshire
	South Lanarkshire
	Stirling
	Suffolk Coastal
	Tandridge
	Taunton Deane
	Thanet
	The Vale of Glamorgan
	Torfaen
	Warwick
	West Devon
	West Lothian
	West Oxfordshire
	West Somerset
	Wycombe
	2012
	Performance Standard 3
	Arun
	Braintree
	Broxbourne
	Castle Point
	East Hampshire
	East Hertfordshire
	Eastbourne
	Great Yarmouth
	Gwynedd
	Lancaster
	Merthyr Tydfil
	Mid Sussex
	North Hertfordshire
	North Warwickshire
	Powys
	Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
	South Oxfordshire
	Uttlesford
	Vale of White Horse
	West Oxfordshire
	Performance Standard 4
	Eden
	Performance Standard 6
	Eden
	The Commission informs me that it is in the process of analysing the detailed registration data relating to the 2013 canvass, which informs its assessments of EROs’ performance. Once this work has been completed, it will publish final assessments of performance for 2013, including the details of any EROs whose assessments it has revised.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, with reference to the answer of 13 June 2011, Official Report, columns 584-5W, on electoral register, how many letters the Electoral Commission have written to hon. Members as a result of their electoral registration officers having failed at least one standard performance indicator in each year for which data is available.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that it notifies all MPs of the outcomes of electoral registration officers (EROs) performance measurement assessments through a written statement and it writes individual letters to MPs who have an ERO that has failed at least one performance indicator within their constituency. EROs that have failed the standards are identified in the Commission’s reports each year, which are available on its website:
	http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/find-information-by-subject/performance-standards

Electoral Registration Officers

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, which electoral registration officers identified themselves as below standard at using information services to verify entries in the register of electors and identify potential new electors in the latest period for which figures are available.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that in 2013 no electoral registration officers (EROs) reported performing below the standard for performance standard 1, which aims to ensure that EROs use appropriate sources of information to verify records on the register of electors and to identify and contact potential new electors throughout the year.

Electoral Registration Officers

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the main reasons given by electoral registration officers were for not conducting data matching activities for the purpose of individual electoral registration.

Gary Streeter: The Commission informs me that the use of local data-matching to support confirmation and verification under individual electoral registration (IER) is at the discretion of electoral registration officers (EROs). Ministerial guidance sets out the considerations EROs should take into account in determining whether to conduct local data matching for these purposes, which includes an assessment of the costs and benefits of doing so in their local area.
	Following the dry-run of the confirmation exercise in summer 2013, 137 EROs reported to the Commission on the trials that they had carried out of local data-matching to support the confirmation process. The reasons given by EROs for not carrying out local data-matching at that time included a lack of staff resources and an already high match rate. However, in a survey of EROs after the dry-run, 91% of respondents said that local data-matching would be important in their area during the confirmation live run in 2014.

Electoral Registration Officers

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, if the Electoral Commission will write to all hon. Members to inform them whether or not their electoral registration officer (ERO) conducted data matching for the purposes of individual electoral registration (IER) in the recent dry run; and what steps the Electoral Commission can take against EROs who do not undertake data matching activities for the purpose of IER.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that the use of local data-matching to support confirmation and verification under individual electoral registration (IER) is at the discretion of electoral registration officers (EROs). Ministerial guidance sets out the considerations EROs should take into account in determining whether to conduct local data matching for these purposes, which includes an assessment of the costs and benefits of doing so in their local area.
	Following the dry-run of the confirmation exercise in summer 2013, 137 EROs reported to the Commission on the trials that they had carried out of local data-matching to support the confirmation process. However, in a survey of EROs after the dry-run, 91% of respondents said that local data-matching would be important in their area during the confirmation live run in 2014.
	The Commission published the confirmation dry-run data and an analysis of this and the survey responses received from EROs on its website and emailed hon. Members on publication.
	The Commission informs me that it will continue to work with the Cabinet Office and its regional delivery managers to provide support to EROs throughout the transition to IER to ensure that they are carrying out all necessary activities to meet the challenges of IER in their local areas.
	The Commission will also collect and publish data from EROs at key stages in order to monitor the progress of the transition, as follows:
	on conclusion of confirmation-August 2014 (England and Wales) and October 2014 (Scotland)
	on conclusion of the write-out and following publication of the revised register-December 2014 (England and Wales) and March 2015 (Scotland)
	after the registration deadline for the May 2015 elections-April 2015
	The Commission will make this information available to all hon. Members on publication, along with information on what questions they can ask their local ERO to establish progress with delivering the transition in their area.

Electoral Registration Officers

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many and what proportion of electoral registration officers conducted data matching of local government databases for the purposes of the dry run for individual electoral registration; and if he will make a statement.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that 137 electoral registration officers (EROs) reported results of the local data matching activities they had undertaken following the confirmation dry run in 2013. However, there may have been other EROs that undertook the work but did not report on their findings.
	A survey of EROs, issued by the Commission at the time of the dry run, found that 91% of the 316 respondents said that local data matching would be important in their area during the live run of confirmation. The Commission will report on the full results of the live run of confirmation later in 2014 and this will include the results of local data matching, where available.

Electoral Registration Officers

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what steps have been taken by the Electoral Commission to inform hon. Members of the performance of electoral registration officers in their (a) constituency and (b) local authority.

Gary Streeter: The Commission informs me that it notified all hon. Members of the performance of electoral registration officers (EROs) through a written statement announcing the publication of its assessment report on 31 March 2014. The Commission also writes individually to every MP who has an ERO within their constituency who has failed to meet at least one performance standard.

Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014

Nigel Dodds: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what consultation there has been with charities in Northern Ireland on the Electoral Commission's guidance on the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that since Royal Assent to the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 it has held four roundtable discussions across the UK, and has used an online survey to listen carefully to the needs of campaigners and explain its plans for guidance. One round table event was held in Northern Ireland and was hosted by the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA). 24 organisations were invited to attend; 11 organisations—including umbrella bodies—were represented.
	The Electoral Commission is also providing a series of campaigner updates, giving information on what the Act will mean for charities and other campaigners. These updates are available on the Commission’s website and have also been promoted by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland.
	The Commission will publish its full guidance on the new rules, which will include joint guidance with the charity regulators, in the summer. This will ensure that campaigners have guidance available to them in advance of the regulated period which begins on 19 September 2014. Meanwhile, the Commission will continue to offer charities and others bespoke advice as usual, both before and after the guidance is published and the regulated period begins.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what comparative assessment he has made of the estimates made by (a) Experian and (b) the Electoral Commission of the number of unregistered voters in the UK.

Greg Clark: The Government funded the Electoral Commission's 2011 research into the completeness and accuracy of the electoral register. This informed the approach to the transition to Individual Electoral Registration, including the use of data matching to confirm the majority of current electors on the existing register without their having to make a new application, and the phasing of the transition over two years, which means no one who registered to vote at the last canvass will lose their right to vote at the general election. Alongside this the Government is funding all local authorities in Great Britain and five national organisations to take steps to boost the completeness and accuracy of the register.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister with reference to the answer of 8 November 2011, Official Report, column 283W, on the electoral register, if he will make it his policy to collect information on the number of fixed penalty notices issued for non-registration in the run up to the introduction of individual electoral registration.

Greg Clark: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the use in Northern Ireland of prize draws to increase voter registration.

Greg Clark: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent discussions he has had with (a) church and community leaders from black and minority ethnic communities and (b) Operation Black Vote on increasing registration levels for voters in those communities.

Greg Clark: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether monies collected from fixed penalty notices issued for failure to register on the electoral register will be retained by the local authority which issues that notice.

Greg Clark: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when electoral registration officers will be able to impose fixed penalty notices for non-registration.

Greg Clark: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what training has been given to electoral registration officers in the implementation of fixed penalty notices for non-registration.

Greg Clark: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps he is taking to disseminate the lessons learned from the data mining pilots for the introduction of individual electoral registrations; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Clark: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will bring forward legislative proposals to provide that the freeze dates for population size for boundary reviews and the census be in the same year.

Greg Clark: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of people eligible to be on the (a) most recent census and (b) most recent electoral register who were not recorded.

Greg Clark: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 27 January 2014, Official Report, column 387W, on the electoral register, what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of holding information on the proportion of attainers who are registered to vote; and what assessment he has made of the usefulness of this information in improving the introduction of individual electoral registration.

Greg Clark: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 5 March 2014, Official Report, column 971W, on the Electoral Administration Act 2013, whether non-individual electoral registration entries will be included on the register by the time of the freeze date for the next boundary review on 1 December 2015.

Greg Clark: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister with reference to the answer of 23 April 2012, Official Report, column 623W, on the electoral register, what steps he has taken to improve student registration in the run up to individual electoral registration.

Greg Clark: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister with reference to the answer of 24 January 2012, Official Report, column 203W, on the electoral register, what assessment he has made of his Department's performance in making the public aware of individual electoral registration; and how he measures that performance .

Greg Clark: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 28 January 2014, Official Report, columns 509-10W, on electoral registration, whether his Department provides funding to Bite the Ballot to increase voter registration.

Greg Clark: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what lessons he has learned from the Northern Irish experience of introducing individual electoral registration.

Greg Clark: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 20 May 2013, Official Report, column 443W, on the electoral register, what the results were of his Department's cooperation with private sector credit reference agencies on datasets that can be used to ensure completeness and accuracy of the electoral register.

Greg Clark: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register: Armed Forces

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of armed services personnel were registered to vote in each of the last thirty years.

Greg Clark: The information requested is not held centrally.

Local Enterprise Partnerships

Nick Brown: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much Local Growth Fund finance has been requested within all local enterprise partnerships' strategic economic plans; what estimate he has made of private investment that will be leveraged through strategic economic plans; and what estimate he has made of European match-funding.

Greg Clark: Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) have shown a high level of ambition in their proposals, and the Local Growth Fund (LGF) is between 3-4 times over-subscribed. The amount of private sector leverage put forward varies by LEP and by project, and this is part of the current discussions with LEPs.
	In addition to the competitive element, the Local Growth Fund contains £170 million of resource funding to match against skills and employability activity supported by EU Structural Investment Funds. The amount of LGF match made available will depend on EU funding allocation agreed with each LEP.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Castes

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities when the Government plans to introduce regulations under the Equalities Act to prevent discrimination by caste and descent.

Helen Grant: There is a lack of certainty on some intrinsic issues around caste, such as what it is and how it is manifested, partly because there had never been any form of public consultation on caste. It was accepted therefore by both Front Benches during the parliamentary debate on this issue last year that the whole process, up to and including the commencement of legislation, would take time and should include a consultation on the proposed legislation. The Government is currently considering two issues which have developed and which have potential implications for the consultation stage. We would expect the public consultation document, including our conclusions on these matters, to be issued in the autumn. We will then be in a position to consider plans to introduce regulations. You may also wish to note the answer given to Lord Avebury by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, on 6 May 2014, Official Report, columns 331-32.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Meetings

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many meetings she has had with the (a) Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, (b) Northern Ireland Parades Commission and (c) Equality Commission for Northern Ireland since 1 January 2014.

Theresa Villiers: I have held no meetings with the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland or the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland since 1 January 2014. I am however due to meet both the Human Rights Commission and the Parades Commission in the coming weeks. In relation to the Equality Commission, the right hon. Gentleman may wish to note that although appointments are made to the Commission by the Northern Ireland Office, sponsorship responsibility lies with the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.

Terrorism

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of her Department's policies to combat the glorification of terrorism in Northern Ireland.

Theresa Villiers: Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006 makes the encouragement, including glorification of terrorism, a criminal offence. Any investigations into allegations of encouraging, including the glorification of terrorism, are of course entirely matters for the police, while decisions on prosecution of such offences are the responsibility of the Public Prosecution Service.

Terrorism

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 1 May 2014, Official Report, column 762W, on terrorism, 
	(1)  in what circumstances the information pertaining to grants of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy between 1987 and 1997 was lost; and what steps she plans to take to recover that information;
	(2)  when she first became aware that records on grants of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy between 1987 and 1997 had been lost;
	(3)  if she will publish the names of those people who received the Royal Prerogative of Mercy; and when and for what reasons it was granted to each.

Ian Paisley Jnr: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy certificates issued by her Department in the last 30 years have been issued to people accused of terrorism-related offences.

Theresa Villiers: The information provided in my written answer of 1 May 2014, Official Report, column 762W, was based on information held by my Department. I first became aware of the issue of missing files while preparing to answer that question. I directed that a review take place, along with other relevant Departments, of the historical records relating to RPMs during the period 1987 to 1997. This is ongoing.
	Records indicate that the vast majority of uses of the RPM referred to in my answer of 1 May did not relate to terrorist offences. Historically, the RPM was used to remit sentences of individuals before statutory means existed to do so. This included releasing individuals from prison for compassionate reasons (e.g. those who were terminally ill), individuals who assisted the police and prosecuting authorities (now provided for by the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005), or to correct errors in calculating release dates. Further information on the general operation of the RPM can be found in the Ministry of Justice’s “Review of the Executive Royal Prerogative Powers: Final Report”, published in October 2009.
	In a written answer to my hon. Friend the Member for North West Norfolk (Mr Bellingham), on 17 March 2014, Official Report, column 368W, I repeated an answer given on 20 March 2003, Official Report, column 895W, by the then-Secretary for State for Northern Ireland to the Member for Lagan Valley—namely that 18 individuals had been granted the RPM in relation to terrorist offences since 1998. Given the RPM has not been used since 2002 and has not been used by this Government, the answer given was the same as the 2003 one. However, early findings from the review of files have indicated that at least one of these cases did not relate to a terrorist offence and in one other case the records do not indicate whether or not the offence was terrorism related.
	In relation to the remaining 16 uses of the RPM between 2000 and 2002 (which did concern terrorist offences), I understand that previous Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland used the RPM in relation to individuals who for technical reasons fell outside of the letter of the Early Release Scheme, to shorten (i.e. not waive or remove) sentences in order that individuals fell within what I understand the then-Government saw as the spirit of the scheme.
	In other words, the RPM was used to correct what the last Government viewed as discrepancies between the letter and the intention of the Belfast agreement and the subsequent Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act—that for a certain category of terrorist offences, offenders could be released after serving two years of their sentences.
	The reasons for exercising the RPM in the 16 terrorism-related cases are summarised as follows:
	to correct an anomaly in the treatment of an offender convicted of the same offence(s) and given the same sentence as co-defendants but who would otherwise have served longer in prison;
	to release prisoners who would have been eligible for early release under the Belfast agreement had they not transferred to a different jurisdiction;
	to release prisoners who would have been eligible to be released under the Belfast agreement had they not served sentences outside the jurisdiction having been convicted extraterritorially, or
	to release prisoners who would have been eligible to be released under the Belfast agreement had their offences (which subsequently became scheduled offences) been scheduled at the time they were committed.
	The names of the 16 individuals granted the RPM in relation to terrorist offences since 2000 are currently being considered as part of an ongoing court case in Northern Ireland.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Biofuels

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the government subsidy for power generation by (a) biomass and (b) heat generation by biomass in each of the next five years.

Gregory Barker: The total future subsidy cost of power generation by biomass will depend on future deployment of this technology, which is uncertain, as this will depend on the relative costs of this technology going forward. Given these uncertainties the EMR Delivery Plan, included a number of illustrative deployment scenarios (see following table). However, these scenarios are for illustration and are not exhaustive.
	
		
			 Technology GB Deployment by 2020 (GW) 
			 Biomass Conversions 1.7—3.4 
			 Dedicated Biomass 0.5—0.6 
			 Dedicated Biomass with Combined Heat and Power (CHP) c. 0.3—0.6 
			 Advanced Conversion Technologies (ACTs) with and without CHP c. 0.2—0.3 
			 Anaerobic Digestion (AD) with and without CHP c. 0.3—0.4 
			 Energy from Waste with CHP c. 0.4 
			 Landfill Gas c. 0.9 
			 Sewage Gas c. 0.2 
		
	
	The following table summarises the tariffs available for heat generation by biomass through the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), expected heat production and expenditure in 2015/16.
	In the December 2013 Government Response “Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive: Improving Support, Increasing Uptake” Government confirmed it would be introducing tariffs for medium and large biogas combustion and increase the tariff for large biomass and biomass CHP. Subject to parliamentary process, the intention is for this to be in place in spring 2014.
	
		
			  Tariff available in 2014-15 Heat produced in 2015-16 supported by RHI (TWh) RHI Expenditure in 2015-16 (£ million, nominal) 
			 Total RHI  5.2-7.4 TWh £300 million to £426 million 
			     
		
	
	
		
			 Small Biomass Boilers (<200kW) Tier 1: 8.8p/kWh Tier 2: 2.3p/kWh1 1.1-1.3 TWh £76million to £92 million 
			 Medium Biomass Boilers (200-999kW) Tier 1: 5.1p/kWh Tier 2: 2.2p/kWh1 1.7-1.9 TWh £67 million to £73 million 
			 Large Biomass Boilers (>1MW) Currently: 1p/kWh New Tariff: 2p/kWh 0.8-1.2 TWh £10 million to £19 million 
			 Biomass CHP New Tariff: 4.1p/kWh 0.2-0.9 TWh £8 million to £37 million 
			     
			 Biogas and Biomethane Injection Small Biogas (<200kW): 7.5p/kWh 0.7-1.1 TWh £54 million to £82 million 
			  New Tariff: Medium Biogas (200-599kW): 5.9p/kWh   
			  New Tariff: Large Biogas (600kW+): 2.2p/kWh   
			  Biomethane Tariff: 7.5p/kWh2   
			 Domestic Biomass Boilers3 12.2p/kWh 0.05-0.15 TWh £6 million to £19 million 
			 1 The tier 1 tariff is paid on the first 1,314 hours of eligible heat production, any eligible heat produced after this will receive the tier 2 tariff. 2 In February 2014 DECC announced an early review of the biomethane tariff, a consultation on this is expected shortly. 3 Does not include RHI Legacy applications, we anticipate that they will cost approximately £9 million in 2015-16. 
		
	
	These tariffs are for 2014-15 and are increased by RPI each year. New applicants are potentially subject to degressions (reductions in payment) if demand reaches certain pre-set triggers.
	Deployment potential beyond 2015-16 will depend on the Government’s 2015 spending review.

Biofuels

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the government subsidy for biomass power generation was in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Gregory Barker: The main mechanism of support for biomass1 power generation is the Renewables Obligation (RO). An estimate of support can be made by applying the share of RO certificates (ROCs) redeemed by suppliers, originating from biomass generation, to overall RO expenditure. This is given in the following table for 2008/09 to 2012/13.
	
		
			  RO total expenditure (£ million) Biomass share of ROCs redeemed (Percentage) Estimated biomass support under the RO (£ million) 
			 2008/09 1,036 20.1 208 
		
	
	
		
			 2009/10 1,119 17.5 196 
			 2010/11 1,285 18.0 231 
			 2011/12 1,458 16.0 233 
			 2012/13 1,991 18.1 360 
		
	
	RO expenditure published in Ofgem’s RO annual reports, available at:
	https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/renewables-obligation-ro
	ROCs redeemed by technology available at:
	https://www.renewablesandchp.ofgem.gov.uk/Public/ReportManager.aspx?ReportVisibility=1&ReportCategory=0
	(Compliance certificates report).
	1 There is no single category for “biomass” under the RO. In this answer, we have defined biomass as the following generation types: dedicated biomass, co-firing, gasification and unspecified biomass.

Electricity

Dan Byles: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will reconsider the proposal to introduce contract for difference auctioning three years earlier than planned.

Michael Fallon: We have always been clear that auctions can be used to drive value for money, once the market is sufficiently developed. As set out in the ‘Consultation on Competitive Allocation’, published by the Department on 16 January 2014, we consider that market conditions are such that for some, more established, technologies this will be the case from the start of the allocation of contracts for difference (CfDs) under the enduring arrangements.

Electricity

Dan Byles: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of (a) the readiness of markets for a Contract for Difference (CfD) competitive bidding process and (b) the effect on independent generators of early introduction of CfD auctioning.

Michael Fallon: The Department launched a consultation on our approach to competitive allocation of Contracts for Difference (CfDs) in January 2014. This included proposals to move to auctioning of CfDs from the first allocation this autumn. We carefully considered the responses to the consultation before confirming our policy position in the Government Response published on 13 May 2014. Competitive allocation will deliver renewable energy at a lower cost for consumers.
	In developing our proposals for the move to competitive allocation, my officials have also worked closely with developers and other stakeholders, including representatives of independent renewable energy generators.
	In particular, we are introducing the Offtaker of Last Resort (OLR) to support independent renewable generators by guaranteeing a route-to-market and therefore improving their ability to raise project finance. The policy design is already at an advanced stage, and the detail of the proposals has been recently consulted on. We are on track to deliver the final policy and introduce enabling regulations ahead of the first allocation of CfDs. CfD applicants will, therefore, have a high degree of clarity about the arrangements for OLR well in advance of the first auctions.

Electricity

Dan Byles: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the impact on independent generators of introduction of Contract for Difference auctioning before the Offtaker of Last Resort is in place.

Michael Fallon: The OLR will support independent renewable generators by providing them with a guaranteed oute to market and improving their ability to raise project finance.
	My officials have worked closely with developers and other stakeholders in working up the Offtaker of Last Resort proposals. The policy design is already at an advanced stage, and the detail of the proposals has been recently consulted on. We are on track to deliver the final policy and introduce enabling regulations ahead of the first allocation of CfDs. CfD applicants will, therefore, have a high degree of clarity about the arrangements for OLR, well in advance of the first auctions.

Energy Companies Obligation

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change for what reason his Department's consultation on the energy company obligation does not include a return to its originally announced level.

Michael Fallon: The recent consultation on the future of the energy company obligation (ECO) focused on the period between now and 2017. The precise shape of the obligation after March 2017 will be the subject of a separate consultation in due course.

Energy Companies Obligation

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will make it his policy to return the energy company obligation to its originally announced level.

Michael Fallon: The Government has already confirmed that the energy company obligation (ECO) is intended to be ambitious and long-term, extending through until at least 2022.

Energy Companies Obligation

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what plans he has for the energy company obligation; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: The consultation on the future of the energy company obligation (ECO) closed on 16 April 2014, and the Government expects to publish its response before Parliament rises for summer recess.

Energy Supply

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the proportion of the UK's energy requirement that will be generated by (a) onshore wind, (b) offshore wind, (c) solar and (d) nuclear energy sources by the end of 2015.

Michael Fallon: The range of estimates for generation by source, as a proportion of the UK’s total electricity demand in 2015, is as follows:
	
		
			 Proportion of UK electricity requirement met by different sources, 2015 
			 Source Proportion of total electricity requirement (%) 
			 Onshore wind 5.6-6.6 
			 Offshore wind 3.4 
			 Solar 1.3 
			 Nuclear 16.5-16.7 
		
	
	These have been calculated using data derived from the annual update of energy and emissions projections:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/updated-energy-and-emissions-projections-2013

Energy: Prices

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will assess the effect of bringing forward by three years the contract for defence auctions on independent generators wishing to enter the auctions and the market conditions in which they will operate.

Michael Fallon: Auctions can be used to drive value for money once the market is sufficiently developed. We consider that market conditions are such that for some, more established technologies this will be the case. For established technologies, the proposed move to competition builds on the strong progress on cost reduction and the well-developed pipeline. For less established technologies, our aim is to ensure that they can deploy at levels which enable continued cost reduction and which ultimately support cheaper deployment in the long-term.
	We continue to develop and implement our detailed proposals for competitive allocation of CfDs, which has the potential to improve value for money, encourage new entry and drive innovation. In developing our proposals we have also been mindful of the final EU Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy 2014-20 published on 9 April, which indicate the need for a move to competitive processes for some technologies.

Energy: Prices

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will provide additional support to assist independent renewable energy generators to know PPA terms from suppliers in their contract for difference auction bids; and whether he will assess the effect of the absence of an Offtaker of Last Resort on the level of support so needed.

Michael Fallon: The Offtaker of Last Resort (OLR) will support independent renewable generators by providing them with a guaranteed route to market and improving their ability to raise project finance.
	My officials have worked closely with developers and other stakeholders in working up the OLR proposals. The policy design is already at an advanced stage, and the detail of the proposals has been recently consulted on. We are on track to deliver the final policy and introduce enabling regulations ahead of first allocation of contracts for difference (CfDs). CfD applicants will have a high degree of clarity about the arrangements for OLR in advance of the first auctions.

Energy: Prices

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he intends that the Offtaker of Last Resort will have fostered the creation of a bankable offtake PPA market for independent renewable energy generators; and what assumptions this estimate is based on.

Michael Fallon: The Offtaker of Last Resort (OLR) mechanism will increase competition and reduce PPA discounts by enabling independent generators and lenders to rely on shorter-term PPAs and a wider variety of PPA counterparties. Powers were taken in the Energy Act 2013 to enable the establishment of the OLR. We are minded to report on the OLR scheme annually, and to undertake a comprehensive review of it at the end of the first EMR Delivery Plan in 2018-19. Annual reporting would cover a range of market performance measures, including the level of competition in the PPA market.

Energy: Prices

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of whether proceeding with Contract for Difference auctions prior to the introduction of the Offtaker of Last Resort will be compatible with EU state aid guidelines on competitive bidding.

Michael Fallon: The Government considers that the proposed policies are compatible with EU state aid guidelines on competitive bidding and is currently engaging with the European Commission on the matter.

Energy: Prices

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effect of proceeding with contract for difference auctions prior to the introduction of the Offtaker of Last Resort.

Michael Fallon: My officials have worked closely with developers and other stakeholders in working up the Offtaker of Last Resort proposals. The policy design is already at an advanced stage, and the detail of the proposals has been recently consulted on. We are on track to deliver the final policy and introduce enabling regulations ahead of first allocation of CfDs. CfD applicants will, therefore, have a high degree of clarity about the arrangements for OLR, well in advance of the first auctions.
	After the regulations come into force, time will be required to establish the processes for allocation of backstop PPAs and apportionment of their costs between licensed suppliers, but we do not consider that this will constitute a significant impediment to projects which secure CfDs through the auction. Furthermore, the OLR has been designed to be a last resort and generators will need to have commercial offtake arrangements in place in order to secure investment.

Green Deal Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment his Department has made of the competitiveness of green deal finance loans.

Gregory Barker: Green Deal finance loans are one way that households can fund home energy efficiency improvements. The competitiveness of a Green Deal finance loan compared to other financing options will depend on the circumstances of each household. However, external research has shown that a Green Deal finance loan, available at 6.96% (plus administrative charges) for a period of 10 to 25 years, can often be a competitive option, compared with other forms of unsecured lending.

Green Deal Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the average value is of (a) new, (b) pending and (c) live green deal plans.

Michael Fallon: The Department publishes the number of Green Deal plans at each stage in its monthly Official Statistics release. The latest figures show that there were 2,000 Green Deal plans in the system at the end of April 2014. Of these, 532 were ‘new’ (quote accepted), another 473 were ‘pending’ (Plan signed) and 995 were ‘live’ (all energy efficiency measures installed). These figures are available at
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/green-deal-and-energy-company-obligation-eco-monthly-statistics-april-2014
	It is only possible to calculate the average value of ‘live’ Green Deal plans as this is the point, after the measures have been installed, at which the energy supplier has all the information required to bill Green Deal charges. However, this has not yet been calculated by the department and would take in excess of the resource limit for parliamentary questions to compile and quality assure from the underlying data.

Nuclear Power Stations

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he expects the nuclear sites at (a) Bradwell, (b) Hartlepool and (c) Heysham to be made available to new nuclear power station consortia.

Michael Fallon: Bradwell, Hartlepool and Heysham are three of the eight sites listed in the 2011 Nuclear National Policy Statement as potentially suitable for the deployment of new nuclear power stations. Development of these sites is a matter for commercial developers: as yet there are no proposals on the table. We hope, however, that firm plans will come forward in due course.

Renewable Energy

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment his Department has made of the effect of contracts for difference auctioning on small and medium-sized enterprises in the (a) renewable energy sector and (b) solar power industry.

Michael Fallon: The Department launched a consultation on our approach to competitive allocation of Contracts for Difference (CfDs) in January 2014. This included proposals to move to auctioning of CfDs from the first allocation this autumn. We carefully considered the responses to the consultation from small and medium-sized enterprises in the renewable energy sector and the solar power industry before confirming our policy position in the Government Response published on 13 May 2014. We will continue to engage with SMEs as we implement our proposals for competitive allocation to understand any difficulties they might face in participating in an auction for CfDs.

Renewable Energy

Dan Byles: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 3 April 2014, Official Report, column 805W, on renewable energy, what the standard period is for stakeholders to be given to respond to a Government consultation.

Michael Fallon: The amount of time required for stakeholders to respond to a Government consultation will depend on the nature and impact of the proposal and might typically vary between 2 and 12 weeks.

Renewables Obligation

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the total expenditure was on Renewables Obligation support in 2013; and what proportion of such support was given to solar power.

Gregory Barker: Renewable Obligation (RO) expenditure is calculated on a financial year basis. Total expenditure in 2012-13 was £1,991 million.
	The proportion of this support given to solar in 2012-13 can be calculated by dividing the number of RO certificates (ROCs) redeemed by suppliers originating from solar generation (20,932) by the total number of ROCs redeemed by suppliers (44,773,499). This gives a figure of 0.05%.
	Source:
	RO expenditure published in Ofgem’s 2012-13 RO annual report, available at:
	https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/renewables-obligation-ro-annual-report-2012-2013
	2012-13 ROCs redeemed by technology available at:
	https://www.renewablesandchp.ofgem.gov.uk/Public/ReportManager.aspx?ReportVisibility=1&ReportCategory=0
	(Compliance certificates report).

Solar Power

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change 
	(1)  what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the proposed reduction in solar farm support under the Renewables Obligation on planned community-owned or shared ownership schemes;
	(2)  what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of reductions to Renewables Obligation support on the quality of solar farms;
	(3)  when his Department's proposed changes to the level of the solar PV Renewables Obligation Certificates will take effect; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Government published the second part of our UK Solar PV Strategy Part 21 on 4 April 2014. We made clear in that document that we are considering the implications of current trends of deployment in solar PV on the financial incentives available in Great Britain under the renewables obligation and small-scale feed-in-tariffs. We will issue a public consultation shortly proposing changes to financial support for solar PV.
	1https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-solar-pv-strategy- part-1-roadmap-to-a-brighter-future

Solar Power

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much solar PV was installed under the 50kW to 5MW feed-in tariff bands in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014 to date.

Gregory Barker: The following table shows the total number of 50 kW to 5 MW solar PV installations accredited under the Feed-in Tariff scheme.
	
		
			 From April: Number of installations Total installed capacity (kW) 
			 2010 11 956 
			 2011 231 84,478 
			 2012 212 36,878 
			 2013 180 30,071 
			 20141 2 320 
			 1 Includes installations commissioned to the end of March 2014. April 2014 statistics will be published at 9.30 am on 22 May 2014 on the DECC website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/monthly-small-scale-renewable-deployment Note: Installations are grouped into years based on their 'commissioning date' i.e. the date the technology was physically installed and deemed to be up and running.

Solar Power

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much solar PV was installed under the 250 kW to 5 MW feed-in tariff band in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014 to date.

Gregory Barker: The following table shows the total number of 250 kW to 5 MW solar PV installations accredited under the Feed-in Tariff scheme:
	
		
			 From April Number of installations Total installed capacity (kW) 
			 2010 0 0 
			 2011 53 65,002 
			 2012 8 6,428 
			 2013 7 4,594 
			 20141 0 0 
			 1 Includes installations commissioned to the end of March 2014. April 2014 statistics will be published at 09:30 am on Thursday 22 May 2014 on the DECC website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/monthly-small-scale-renewable-deployment 
		
	
	Installations are grouped into years based on their 'commissioning date' i.e. the date the technology was physically installed and deemed to be up and running.

Staff

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many jobs in his Department are based in (a) London and (b) Aberdeen as part of the Licensing Exploration and Development Unit.

Gregory Barker: As of 30 April 2014, there were in total 54 Department of Energy and Climate Change jobs as part of the Licensing Exploration and Development Unit, 32 based in London, and 22 based in Aberdeen.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Bangladesh

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will take steps to encourage all UK clothing companies which use suppliers in Bangladesh to join the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.

Alan Duncan: Over 160 companies, including many well-known British brands and retailers, have now signed up to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety, a groundbreaking, legally binding agreement between international unions and clothing companies. Signing up to the Accord shows that they are serious about their responsibilities in ensuring the safety of all those people in Bangladesh that make their clothes.
	DFID has used every opportunity, such as the Westminster debate on 30 April, my recent visit to Bangladesh, communications around the Rana Plaza anniversary, and meetings with retailers and buyers to call for companies to take responsibility for the working conditions of all those that make their clothes and to contribute to the Rana Plaza Trust Fund for the victims of the factory building collapse.

International Assistance

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she is taking to improve the transparency of bilateral and multilateral aid spending.

Alan Duncan: The UK continues to lead the world on aid transparency. DFID was a founder of (and the first to publish aid data under) the International Aid Transparency Initiative. Over 230 organisations have now followed this lead. 98% of civil society organisations receiving funding under DFID’s Programme Partnership Arrangements are now publishing IATI compliant data.
	DFID’s Development Tracker has revolutionised the sharing of aid information, enabling public access to details on expenditure and recipients, alongside project documentation. These efforts have been recognised recently, with DFID assessed as the best performing donor in the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation’s 2014 monitoring report.
	The Multilateral Aid Review (MAR) included transparency and accountability as a key aspect of assessing multilateral partners’ performance. DFID is pushing organisations to strengthen their disclosure policies and make project details readily available. This is likely to be examined again in 2015.

Nigeria

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance her Department is offering to Nigeria for the promotion of education for women and girls in a safe environment.

Lynne Featherstone: British aid is helping to educate 800,000 Nigerian children, including 600,000 girls, through a package of educational support to state governments in Nigeria. DFID also has an extensive portfolio of programmes helping Nigeria to provide long-term security for its citizens, particularly working to prevent violence against women and girls. For example, DFID’s Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme is already scaling up its work in Borno state, and my officials are currently investigating what further support we can offer both in terms of education and security programmes.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Australia

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what visits he has made to Australia in the last year; what the primary purpose was of any such visits; and who accompanied him on such visits.

Jennifer Willott: The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), has not visited Australia in the last 12 months.

Bankruptcy

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people have been declared bankrupt in (a) Bury St Edmunds constituency, (b) Suffolk, (c) East of England and (d) England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Jennifer Willott: Figures for bankruptcies in England and Wales, East of England, Suffolk and Bury St Edmunds constituency in each of the last five years can be found in Table 1.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of bankruptcies in England and Wales, East of England, Suffolk and Bury St Edmunds, 2008 to 20121 
			 Area 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 England and Wales 67,428 74,670 59,173 41,876 31,787 
			 East of England 7,366 8,128 5,755 4,141 3,149 
			 Suffolk 1,041 1,089 848 548 406 
			 Bury St Edmunds 160 174 129 85 62 
			 1 Where bankrupt has provided a valid postcode 
		
	
	Regional figures for 2013 are not currently available. They will be published in July 2014.
	It should be noted that these figures do not account for any changes in the base population over time. Using the rate of bankruptcies per 10,000 adults allows for a like-for-like comparison across years.
	Headline figures for insolvencies in England and Wales can be found in the quarterly Insolvency Statistics release, a National Statistics publication. Figures for January-March 2014 were published on 29 April 2014, and can be found here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/insolvency-statistics-january-to-march-2014
	Annual numbers and rates of bankruptcies by region for 2000-2012 are available in the Individual Insolvencies by Region publication, which can be found at the following link:
	http://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/otherinformation/statistics/regionalstatisticsmenu.htm

Conditions of Employment: Scotland

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning in Scotland on the use of zero-hour contracts in Scottish education establishments.

Jennifer Willott: There have been no recent discussions between the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable) and the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning in Scotland directly relating to the use of zero-hour contracts in Scottish education establishments.

Disabled Students' Allowances

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the written statement of 7 April 2014, Official Report, column 1WS, on higher education (student support), what estimate he has made of how many prospective students will no longer be eligible for the disabled students' allowance once the changes set out in the statement are introduced; and what steps he plans to take to support those prospective students.

David Willetts: Disabled students will continue to receive support through a combination of disabled students' allowances (DSAs) and reasonable adjustments made by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Each student's needs are unique. Some will receive more support through reasonable adjustments than previously experienced. Written guidance will be available.
	It is not possible to make an accurate estimate of how many prospective students will no longer be eligible for DSAs as many students receive more than one type of support.
	Current DSA recipients and disabled students applying for DSAs in 2014/15 will not be affected by these changes in 2015/16.

Hydraulic Equipment: Imports

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent representations he has received on illegal pump imports into the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
	We have had no representations on illegal pump imports. The National Measurement Office (NMO) is the designated Market Surveillance Authority for the UK for products subject to regulations made under the Ecodesign for Energy—related Products Directive, including those for pumps. It takes an intelligence-led and risk-based approach to market surveillance; any evidence of illegal imports should be sent to the NMO:
	https://www.gov.uk/placing-energy-related-products-on-the-uk-market
	for follow-up and appropriate enforcement action.

Manufacturing Industries: Females

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps the Government is taking to encourage more women to pursue a career in advanced manufacturing.

David Willetts: It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.

Vocational Guidance: Internet

Graham Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the performance of plotr; and if he will make a statement.

Matthew Hancock: Officials in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills have been working with those from Cabinet Office to assess the next steps with plotr, which the two Departments supported in its early development stages in 2012.
	The website provides employers an opportunity to attract young people into careers in their businesses and industries. It does so in an engaging way and fits well with the Inspiration Vision which I announced in September last year: widening the horizons for young people with details of the range of options available as they progress in education. An impressive list of employers is already involved.
	I have decided to further support plotr to achieve a step change in the site to meet employers’ expectations and provide a better user experience for young people. I expect this to provide the springboard for plotr to be entirely funded by employers from the end of this year.

TRANSPORT

Bus Services: Lancashire

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps are being taken to ensure that funding is made available to maintain bus services in rural areas of Lancashire.

Stephen Hammond: The majority of public funding for local bus services is via block grant provided to local authorities in England from the Department for Communities and Local Government. This Department is also devolving around £1.9 million annual Bus Service Operators Grant funding to Lancashire county council relating to the tendered bus services they support, to allow decisions to be taken locally on how that funding should be spent.

Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of introducing a refund and vehicle excise duty system based on the day a vehicle is bought and sold.

Stephen Hammond: The estimated cost of amending the vehicle excise duty refund process is £10 million. This information was published in the Tax Information and Impact Note published on 10 December 2013 alongside the draft 2014 Finance Bill.
	This is part of the initiative to abolish the tax disc which will result in ongoing savings to the taxpayer of around £7 million per annum due to no longer producing, issuing and posting tax discs.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Broadband

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what comparative assessment he has made of superfast broadband coverage in (a) Hampshire and (b) other counties in the UK.

Edward Vaizey: Ofcom monitors the availability of broadband in the UK, including superfast broadband availability, and publishes comparative data on its website, which can be found at:
	http://maps.ofcom.org.uk/broadband/
	Ofcom’s 2013 report provides the following comparative data on the availability of superfast broadband in Hampshire compared with the UK average.
	
		
			 Local authority Superfast broadband availability (%) 
			 City of Portsmouth 96.4 
			 City of Southampton 91.7 
			 Hampshire County 78.3 
			 United Kingdom 73 
		
	
	The full Ofcom data table can be found at
	http://d2a9983j4okwzn.cloudfront.net/downloads/ofcom-uk-broadband-speed-data-2013.csv

Electronic Publishing

Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effect of growth in the UK market for eBooks on authors, publishers and readers;
	(2)  if he will launch a public consultation on steps to be taken to promote the UK eBook industry.

Edward Vaizey: The creative industries are a great success story for the UK, and the importance of the publishing sector has been illustrated in the recently published creative industries statistics (January 2014), which show its worth of £9.7 billion in 2012, employment of nearly a quarter of a million people, and worth of £1.25 billion in export of services in 2011.
	The Department has made no direct assessment of the effect of growth in the UK market for eBooks on authors, publishers and readers; however, the existence of digital platforms, such as eBooks, increases the multimedia possibilities for authors and publishers, and provides consumers with more choice. The sector is continuing to seize the opportunities presented by digital technologies and the UK eBook industry is continuing to develop even further.

World War I: Anniversaries

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans the Government has to hold events in Northern Ireland to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.

Helen Grant: The Government is leading a wide-ranging programme of events and activities to mark the First World War centenary. HMS Caroline, moored in Belfast, has received £13.2 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund to enable this veteran of the Battle of Jutland to open as a floating museum for the battle’s centenary in 2016. Commemorative paving stones will be laid in the hometowns of Victoria Cross recipients born in Northern Ireland. The 14-18NOW cultural programme summer 2014 season includes events in both Belfast and Derry/Londonderry. There will be other First World War related activity as part of the wider decade of centenary commemorations in Ireland and Northern Ireland. At the same time, the Northern Ireland Centenary Committee is developing plans for a cross-community commemorative event at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast which will complement UK Government events in Glasgow, Belgium and London on 4 August 2014. Jeffrey Donaldson, as Chair of the Northern Ireland Centenary Committee, is a member of the UK Government Advisory Group.

DEFENCE

Afghanistan

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost of the work done on the Kajaki Dam project in Afghanistan; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Francois: The Kandahar Helmand Power Project to enhance the electrical power output of the Kajaki Dam is not funded by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), but by the US Agency for International Development and the US Army Corps of Engineers. The MOD is therefore unable to provide a thorough estimate of costs. In 2008, the UK’s 16 Air Assault Brigade provided protection for the movement of a turbine to Kajaki. By the end of 2014, the project aims to deliver reliable, sustainable electricity to around 2 million people in Kandahar and Helmand, and to support the continued development of the regional South-East Power System (SEPS) power grid.

Afghanistan

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what economic benefit has accrued to the Afghan people from work on the Kajaki Dam project to date.

Mark Francois: The work on the Kajaki Dam is part of the US funded Kandahar Helmand Power project. The US Agency for International Development has stated that, once operational, the new turbine will increase Kajaki capacity from 33 MW to 51 MW, benefiting some 50,000 households in Kandahar and Helmand provinces.

Armed Forces: Deployment

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) Royal Air Force personnel of each rank have been in breach of their harmony guidelines in each year since 2010.

Anna Soubry: The “Harmony Guidelines” are used by the Services to strike a balance between deployment, training and time with families. Individual Harmony Guidelines (IHG) are different for the three Services, equating to no more than 660 days away from home over a rolling three year period for the Naval Service, no more than 415 days away in a 30-month rolling period for the Army and no more than 280 days away over in the previous 24 months for the Royal Air Force.
	The following tables show the information available in respect of breaches of harmony guidelines, by percentage in each year, by rank, since 2010 to the latest date available (1 January 2014 for the RAF or 1 March 2014 for the Naval Service and the Army).
	
		
			 Naval Service 
			 Percentage of personnel in breach of IHG 
			  1 April 2010 1 April 2011 1 April 2012 1 April 2013 1 March 2014 
			 Officers:      
			 OF-9 1— 1— 0 0 0 
			 OF-8 1— 1— 0 0 0 
			 OF-7 1— 1— 0 0 0 
			 OF-6 1— 1— 1.3 1.3 0 
			 OF-5 1— 1— 0 2— 2— 
			 OF-4 1— 1— 2— 1.3 1.0 
			 OF-3 1— 1— 0.3 1.2 0.7 
			 OF-2 1— 1— 0.6 1.1 0.9 
			 OF-1 1— 1— 2— 2— 2— 
			 Total 0.7 0.4 0.4 1.1 0.8 
			 Ratings:      
			 OR-9 1— 1— 2— 2— 2— 
			 OR-8 1— 1— 2— 2— 2— 
			 OR-7 1— 1— 0.7 1.0 0.8 
			 OR-6 1— 1— 0.5 0.8 0.7 
			 OR-4 1— 1— 0.7 1.0 1.1 
			 OR-3 1— 1— 2— 2.7 2.6 
			 OR-2 1— 1— 0.5 0.7 0.9 
			 Total 1.5 0.8 0.5 0.9 0.9 
			 1 Data is not available. 2 Numbers 5 or below. 
		
	
	
		
			 Army 
			 Percentage of personnel in breach of IHG 
			  1 April 2010 1 April 2011 1 April 2012 1 April 2013 1 March 2014 
			 Officers:      
			 OF-9 0 0 0 0 0 
			 OF-8 0 0 11.1 10.0 0 
			 OF-7 5.0 4.7 2.4 2.3 5.1 
			 OF-6 3.3 4.0 3.0 2.6 2.5 
			 OF-5 5.0 5.7 5.1 3.4 2.7 
			 OF-4 2.6 3.1 2.7 2.1 0.8 
			 OF-3 3.0 2.6 2.4 2.0 1.3 
			 OF-2 6.8 6.4 8.2 7.9 6.7 
			 OF-1 4.7 9.2 8.1 5.6 2.9 
			 Total 4.6 5.0 5.3 4.7 3.4 
			 Soldiers:      
			 OR-9 2.6 2.0 1.9 1.3 1.6 
			 OR-8 4.1 2.5 3.1 2.5 1.8 
			 OR-7 4.9 4.6 4.3 3.3 3.0 
			 OR-6 5.6 4.8 5.4 4.9 4.9 
			 OR-4 7.2 6.6 8.1 8.2 8.6 
			 OR-3 8.2 6.9 7.5 7.9 8.1 
			 OR-2 4.6 4.3 4.2 3.2 3.2 
		
	
	
		
			 Total 5.8 5.2 5.6 5.2 5.2 
		
	
	
		
			 Royal Air Force 
			 Percentage of personnel in breach of IHG 
			  1 April 2010 1 April 2011 1 April 2012 1 April 2013 1 January 2014 
			 Officers:      
			 OF-9 1— 0 0 0 0 
			 OF-8 1— 11.5 0 0 0 
			 OF-7 1— 0 0 0 0 
			 OF-6 1— 9.0 4.6 3.7 9.0 
			 OF-5 1— 3.7 0.6 4.2 3.3 
			 OF-4 1— 3.9 1.7 3.3 2.8 
			 OF-3 1— 2.9 2.5 3.0 2.5 
			 OF-2 1— 3.0 3.4 3.2 3.0 
			 OF-1 1— 1.8 2.1 4.4 6.8 
			 Total 3.6 3.1 2.7 3.3 3.1 
			 Other Ranks:      
			 OR-9 1— 1.0 1.8 1.6 2.0 
			 OR-8 1— 2— 2— 2— 2— 
			 OR-7 1— 1.4 1.9 1.5 1.9 
			 OR-6 1— 2.2 2.7 2.9 2.9 
			 OR-4 1— 2.7 3.0 3.7 4.0 
			 OR-3 1— 1— 31.8 22.1 33.8 
			 OR-1 and 2 1— 2.6 3.6 4.2 5.0 
			 Total 2.9 2.5 3.3 3.6 4.2 
			 1 Data is not available. 2 Rank does not exist in the RAF. Notes: 1. The increase in breaches on Individual Harmony for the RAF is primarily due to RAF operational tours changing from four to six months and the Harmony metrics having not yet been adjusted. Adjusted Individual Harmony metrics will take effect from financial year 2014-15, aligned to the increased tour lengths, and are expected to show a decrease in the percentage of RAF personnel breaching Individual Harmony. 2. The percentages are for Trained UK Regular Forces. Army equivalent ranks as listed in the tables: OF-9 General OF-8 Lieutenant General OF-7 Major General OF-6 Brigadier OF-5 Colonel OF-4 Lieutenant Colonel OF-3 Major OF-2 Captain OF-1 Lieutenant OR-9 WO1 OR-8 WO2 OR-7 Staff Sergeant OR-6 Sergeant OR-4 Corporal OR-3 Lance Corporal OR-2 Private

Armed Forces: Disciplinary Proceedings

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many administrative actions under AGAI67 have been considered to have been illegal punishments in each year since 2008 in each branch of the armed forces; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: It is assumed that the hon. Member is referring to cases where administrative action was taken, under AGAI Chapter 67 or the equivalent regulations in the Naval Service and RAF, against service personnel who had been in receipt of a simple police caution, after the amendment to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 made by section 49 the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act which came into force on 19 December 2008.
	The range of administrative sanctions which could have been applied in such circumstances is extremely wide, ranging from a formal warning to termination of service. A full analysis by year would require the examination of individual records and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Assets

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to apply in all circumstances the Defence Infrastructure Organisation's principles that local councils should have first refusal when assets are being disposed of.

Mark Francois: There is no such principle. In accordance with Treasury guidelines the Department is required to achieve best value for money in the sale of each site.
	In the case of Kirton in Lindsey, following the aborted sale to the Homes and Communities Agency, the MOD decided to proceed straight to the open market. The Department will be happy to receive a tender from North Lincolnshire district council to be considered along with all other bids in fair and open competition.

Brighton

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will bring forward proposals to relocate (a) staff and (b) offices of his Department to Brighton; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Francois: There are no current plans for the Department to relocate staff or offices to Brighton.

Cluster Munitions

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how levels of human control are defined in use of the ballistic sensor-fused munition and other similar systems which can operate in automatic mode.

Philip Dunne: For existing automated systems, human control requires an authorised operator to set the pre-programmed parameters for the weapon system’s operation. Authority to activate such systems is given only in full accordance with the targeting directive for a specific theatre of operations, targeting policy and rules of engagement which ensure adherence to international humanitarian law.
	The decision to deploy a particular weapon system in any given theatre of operations depends upon the context of that operation. It would be unreasonable to deny our armed forces the option of using the most appropriate weapons (including systems that can be operated in automatic mode) to engage legitimate military targets.

Cluster Munitions

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what safeguards are deployed to prevent a sensor-fused munition operating in automatic mode from confusing a military target with a civilian target.

Philip Dunne: The targeting process, not the weapon, takes discrimination, proportionality and precautions in attack into account. The decision whether to use lethal force against a legitimate military target is made through a rigorous targeting process, the targeting directive for a specific theatre of operations and rules of engagement which ensure adherence to international humanitarian law.
	Since 1999, when the requirement to do so under the Geneva conventions additional protocol I article 36 came into effect for the UK, all new weapons, means and methods of warfare entering service have been subjected to a review in order to ensure they are capable of being used lawfully in armed conflict. The UK is committed to upholding the Geneva conventions and encourages others to do the same.

Defence

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the objectives are of Britain's Defence and Security Strategy.

Philip Hammond: The National Security Strategy defines two strategic objectives. These are firstly to ensure a secure and resilient UK—protecting our people, economy, infrastructure, territory and way of life from all major risks that can affect us directly—and secondly, shaping a stable world—acting to reduce the likelihood of risks affecting the UK or our interests overseas. Taken together, the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review define the ends, ways and means through which Government seeks to strengthen our security and build our prosperity.

Defence: Procurement

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  when the contract for the (a) Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank and (b) BR90 Capability Sustainment Life Extension Programme will be awarded; what estimate he has made of the cost of this contract to the public purse; and what the work will comprise;
	(2)  when the contract for the Armoured Battlegroup Support Vehicle will be awarded; what estimate he has made of the cost of this contract; and what the work will comprise.

Philip Dunne: The Challenger 2 Life Extension Project, the BR90 Capability Sustainment Life Extension Programme and the Armoured Battlegroup Support Vehicle project, are all at their respective concept phases and no investment decisions have yet been made. It is too soon to say when contracts will be awarded, what the costs will be or what work will be provided.

Fuels: Gosport

Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the replacement of the fuel tanks at the oil fuel depot in Gosport is scheduled to take place.

Philip Dunne: Work is ongoing to establish the preferred options and costs of replacement, which will confirm the programme timescales.

Helicopters

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many journeys in the UK using (a) domestic helicopter services and (b) military helicopters were made by (i) the Chief of Defence Materiel and (ii) Ministers in his Department in each of the last four years; and what the annual cost has been of such journeys.

Philip Dunne: The following table reflects the number of journeys in the UK using (a) domestic helicopter services and (b) military helicopters which were made by (i) the Chief of Defence Materiel and (ii) Ministers in the Ministry of Defence in each of the last four years. No costs are included as there is no charge internally for the use of military helicopters and the domestic flights were provided at no charge.
	
		
			 Number 
			  May 2010-11 FY 2011-12 FY 2012-13 FY 2013-14 
			 CDM     
			 Domestic helicopter journeys — — — — 
			 Military helicopter journeys 1 — 8 — 
			 Total annual cost — — — — 
			      
			 Ministers     
			 Domestic helicopter journeys — — 1 1 
			 Military helicopter journeys 7 11 9 115 
			 Total annual cost — — — — 
			 1 On one occasion, two Ministers shared one helicopter; this has been counted as two journeys.

Industrial Health and Safety

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he plans to extend the Duty Holder Concept Regulations to apply to (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department.

Anna Soubry: Under the policy introduced across Defence, a Duty Holder is an official (military or civilian) who owns, manages and is accountable for risks to life of people in his or her area of responsibility. Senior Duty Holders, who head the Department's Top Level Budget areas and Trading Fund Agencies, are required by the Secretary of State's Policy Statement on Health, Safety and Environmental Protection to refer to him any risks that they consider cannot be reduced as low as reasonably practicable.

Information Officers

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) press officers, (b) internal communications officers, (c) external communications officers, (d) communications strategy officers and (e) other personnel with a communications remit were employed by (i) his Department, (ii) its agencies and (iii) each other non-departmental public body sponsored by his Department on the most recent date for which figures are available.

Anna Soubry: Communicators are employed across Defence and the armed forces. They have an important task in explaining to the public, the media, our own people and other audiences—at the local regional, national and international levels—the role of Defence, Defence activities, capabilities and operations. Over the last several years, substantial savings have been made across the communications area, and further efficiencies will continue to be made.
	The latest figures for the numbers involved in communications roles as at 31 March 2013 are shown in the following table, and include all posts for which over 50% of the post’s core duties are communications. These figures include both military and civilian posts worldwide. In the 2013 exercise communications staff in non-departmental public bodies were not surveyed. As such, this data was requested separately.
	Also shown are the figures for 31 March 2010, demonstrating a reduction of 21% (over 160 posts) in this time.
	
		
			  2010 data Current data 
			  MOD/armed forces Trading funds1 Non-departmental public bodies MOD/armed forces Trading funds Non-departmental public bodies 
			 Press officers 112 8 1 97 2 1 
			 Internal communications officers 52 8 0 33 6 0 
			 External communications officers 365 26 0 265 4 6 
			 communications strategy officers 67 2.5 0 50 0 0 
			 Others 101 7 3 116 9 2 
			 1 Includes 27 full-time posts in the Met Office which has since transferred to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Military Aid: Floods

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what operational contingency plans he has made for future capability requirements in the event of further flooding.

Mark Francois: This winter’s severe weather and consequent flooding represented a significant test of the nation’s civil resilience framework and demonstrated the effectiveness of military contingency planning. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) was able to generate a 5,000-strong taskforce and engage our specialist capabilities to fill gaps without detrimental impact to operations or significant training disruption. The MOD continues to plan against a broad range of civil emergencies in support of wider Government contingency planning.

NATO

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assets have been assigned to (a) Standing NATO Maritime Group 1, (b) Standing NATO Maritime Group 2, (c) Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 and (d) Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2 since July 2013; and for how long each such asset was so assigned.

Mark Francois: There have been no Royal Navy ships assigned to Standing NATO Maritime Group 1, Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 or Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 since 2012.
	Listed as follows are the Royal Navy Mine Countermeasures Vessels assigned to the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2 since July 2013. The period of support is between four and six months per ship and is permanently allocated.
	2013
	HMS Ledbury
	HMS Penzance
	2014
	HMS Brocklesby
	HMS Blyth
	In addition the Royal Navy provides regular contributions to maritime NATO exercises, supports Operation Active Endeavour in the Mediterranean using transiting surface vessels and submarines, and allows other NATO vessels in the Gulf region to refuel using the on station UK Royal Fleet Auxiliary Tanker.

Nigeria

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the role is of UK military personnel in Nigeria in connection with the mass abduction of schoolgirls.

Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence, including military personnel, is participating in the UK Advisory Team drawn from across Whitehall, which has been sent to Nigeria to offer advice to the Nigerian authorities, including on longer-term counter-terrorism solutions to prevent such attacks in the future. I refer the hon. Member to the written statement released by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), on 12 May 2014, Official Report, column 15WS, and the comments he made in the House on 13 May 2014, Official Report, column 579.

Public Expenditure

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library copies of his Department's force structure cost model.

Philip Hammond: I am withholding the information requested as its disclosure would be commercially sensitive and would prejudice the economic interests of the United Kingdom as well as the capability, effectiveness and security of the armed forces.

RAF Kirton in Lindsey

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will ensure that North Lincolnshire Council has first refusal for the acquisition of the Kirtin in Lindsey base.

Mark Francois: There is no such principle. In accordance with Treasury guidelines the Department is required to achieve best value for money in the sale of each site.
	In the case of Kirton in Lindsey, following the aborted sale to the Homes and Communities Agency, the MOD decided to proceed straight to the open market. The department will be happy to receive a tender from North Lincolnshire district council to be considered along with all other bids in fair and open competition.

War Graves

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to transfer the maintenance of graves of military personnel who have died since 1945 from his Department to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Anna Soubry: It is important that maintenance of post-second world war military graves in the UK is undertaken in the most efficient and effective way.
	The transfer of responsibility for some 6,139 graves from the Ministry of Defence to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), who already maintain many more such graves, is accordingly under consideration. Discussions between the Defence Infrastructure Organisation and the CWGC about the possibility of such a change are ongoing.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Floods: Insurance

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the effect of property level protection measures on flood insurance premiums.

Dan Rogerson: The levels of insurance premiums are commercial decisions taken by individual insurance companies. These will take into account a range of factors and we cannot guarantee that installing property level protection will reduce premiums. However, installing property level protection will reduce the level of damage, distress and disruption associated with flooding for the householder.
	The Government is working with the insurance industry to ensure that affordable cover continues to be available.

Insects

Sarah Newton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the Government will publish the National Pollinator Strategy: for bees and other pollinators in England.

George Eustice: After engaging with interested parties over recent months, including holding a public consultation between 6 March and 2 May, we plan to publish the final National Pollinator Strategy this summer.

Landfill

Chris Heaton-Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much organic waste went into landfill in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012 and (d) 2013.

Dan Rogerson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Landfill

Chris Heaton-Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will review the policy of allowing organic waste to go to landfill.

Dan Rogerson: There are currently no plans to review the policy on organic waste entering landfill.
	A combination of measures, such as the Waste and Resources Action Programme’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign and the Government’s Anaerobic Digestion Strategy, are in place to reduce the amount of organic material going to landfill and drive the waste that is produced into energy recovery or recycling. Considerable progress is being made on this, with the UK on course to meet the targets set out in the EU Landfill Directive for reducing the amount of biodegradable municipal waste entering landfill to 35% of 1995 levels by 2020.
	Current evidence suggests that introducing bans or restrictions on sending organic waste to landfill would have an impact on businesses and local authorities in terms of compliance and monitoring, risking additional cost burdens on businesses.
	The EU is reviewing a selection of waste policy legislation and further details about this will be known later in the year.

London Zoo

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will discuss with London Zoo the (a) size of the lion enclosure and (b) general animal welfare standards at that zoo.

George Eustice: London Zoo has plans to improve its lion enclosure. It is the responsibility of the relevant local authority to ensure that high standards are maintained in zoos, that the animals have suitable accommodation and that their welfare needs are being met.

Mangoes: India

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if his Department has undertaken any assessment into the European Commission's ban on the import of Indian mangoes and the economic impact on UK businesses.

Dan Rogerson: Protecting the UK’s plants from incursions of pests and diseases is a high priority for the Government. There would be a major long term impact and costs from introducing more plant pests and diseases into the country. The pests intercepted on imports from India could cause significant damage to UK glasshouse crops worth £321 million a year. Such pests were found in 207 consignments of fruits and vegetables from India imported into the EU in 2013, of which 179 were intercepted by the UK.
	While a detailed assessment of the economic impact on UK businesses of the ban on the import of Indian mangoes has not been undertaken, the Government recognises the implications this will have and officials have met with the National Asian Business Association to discuss the issue.
	We very much hope that imports of this highly-valued product will be able to resume as quickly as possible and will work with the European Commission and other member states to facilitate this, subject to India’s exporters and Government showing that the necessary standards are being achieved.

Melissococcus Plutonius

Simon Reevell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what evidence there is of contamination of the bacterial pathogen, Melissoccocus plutonius, from countries within the EU.

Dan Rogerson: Melissococcus plutonius is the causative agent of European foulbrood. In 2012 the Dutch reported the results of a survey that used sensitive detection methodologies to suggest a 35% apiary prevalence of Melissococcus plutonius across the Netherlands.
	But a 2012-13 pan-European epidemiological study on honey bee colony losses found a low prevalence of European foulbrood across 15 member states:
	http://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/live_animals/bees/docs/bee-report_en.pdf

Water

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the Environment Agency classifies as a watercourse; if he will ensure that insurance companies can differentiate between major watercourses and watercourses of no consequence; and if he will make a statement.

Dan Rogerson: The Environment Agency defines a “Watercourse” according to section 72(1) of the Land Drainage Act 1991. It includes all rivers and streams and all ditches, drains, cuts, culverts, dikes, sluices, sewers (other than public sewers within the meaning of the Water Industry Act 1991) and passages, through which water flows.
	Insurance companies take into account a range of factors in setting policy premiums and excesses, and different insurers take different approaches to assessing flood risk. Certain insurance companies would use proximity to a watercourse to assess the risk of flooding to a property, while other companies may use postcodes to assess flood risk or their own flood risk models.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Atos Healthcare

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether Atos staff have been offered any additional retention or performance-related payments since the decision to terminate the contract to carry out work capability assessments was announced.

Michael Penning: The detail of any remuneration of their own staff is an issue for Atos Healthcare and not the Department.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with ME or chronic fatigue syndrome and their healthcare professionals are (a) helped to access appropriate support and (b) given the correct out of work support;
	(2)  what support is in place to help people with ME or chronic fatigue syndrome who are well enough to consider a return to work.

Michael Penning: We do not target our employment programmes exclusively at individuals with particular conditions such as M.E. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The Department’s programmes, including its specialist disability employment programmes, aim to identify and meet the needs of the individual, including those with M.E. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
	Access to Work provides additional support for individuals whose health or disability affects the way they do their job. It provides individuals and their employers with advice and support with extra costs which may arise because of an individual’s needs. Access to Work does not replace the duty an employer has under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments.
	Work Choice is a specialist disability employment programme that provides tailored support to help disabled people who face the most complex barriers to employment, find and stay in work and ultimately help them progress into unsupported employment, where it is appropriate for the individual.
	Jobcentre Plus Disability Employment Advisers can provide support and advice for disabled people who need help finding and retaining employment. They can refer individuals to specialist programmes, including Work Choice, and can use the professional expertise of Work Psychologists, who specialise in working with disabled people. Disability Employment Advisers can advocate with employers on the individual’s behalf and help employers to explore job solutions such as the restructuring of a job’s tasks/environment, or the provision/change of equipment.
	The Government published ‘The disability and health employment strategy: the discussion so far’ on 17 December 2013. This paper sets out a range of proposals to further improve our employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions.
	The Government recognises that getting the right support at the right time is particularly important for disabled people and those with a health condition so as part of our vision for future employment support we are developing a new Employment Gateway. This will be a light-touch process based on an individual's strengths and needs and will direct people to the most appropriate support.
	In order to support individuals to stay in work where possible we are putting in place a new Health and Work Service (HWS).The HWS will provide occupational health advice and support for employees, employers and GPs to help individuals with a health condition to stay in or return to work.
	The intention is to introduce the service by the end of 2014.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to ensure that specialist training on (a) ME or chronic fatigue syndrome and (b) other fluctuating conditions is given to healthcare professionals assessing claimants for the personal independence payment.

Michael Penning: The Department requires the health professionals carrying out personal independence payment assessments to have a broad and thorough training in disability analysis, as well as training in specific conditions, including fluctuating conditions. Both organisations providing the assessment have to conform to a rigorous set of quality and recruitment standards which are closely monitored by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Enterprise Allowance Scheme

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what (a) targets have been set and (b) rates have been achieved for take up of the enterprise allowance in each Jobcentre district and individual job centre.

Esther McVey: We set an ambitious target for the new enterprise allowance: to support 40,000 people to set up their own businesses by the end of 2013. Official statistics to the end of December 2013 revealed that this was surpassed. There are no sub-national targets for numbers of allowance starts. The volumes are broken down by Jobcentre District in the following publication, Pre-Work Programme support: New Enterprise Allowance, March 2014 which can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pre-work-programme-support-new-enterprise-allowance-march-2014
	A breakdown by Jobcentre Plus office is provided in the document “New Enterprise Allowance: Weekly Allowance starts by Jobcentre Plus office - April 2011 - December 2013”—this can be found in tables which will be placed in the Library.

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect of the under occupancy penalty on households where children have been removed by children's services on a temporary basis under child protection regulations.

Esther McVey: Children who have been temporarily taken into care under child protection regulations are not assessed as part of the household with regards to the size criteria in both the social and private rented sectors.
	This means a bedroom will not be allocated for any children taken into protective care. However, a child can be treated as a member of the claimant's household if they spend part of a benefit week in a claimant's house and the local authority considers it reasonable to include them as part of that household.
	Where people are temporarily under occupying, they can apply for additional help through discretionary housing payment (DHP) scheme for which we have provided funding of £345 million over the last two years. Guidance to local authorities on awarding a DHP covers circumstances where a child is temporarily away from home. Where appropriate, claimants could therefore apply for a DHP in child protection cases.

Jobcentre Plus

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what procedures his Department has put in place to ensure that mail received by recorded delivery at jobcentres is logged and dealt with immediately; and what assessment he has made of whether such procedures are carried out across all jobcentres.

Michael Penning: All DWP mail, whether recorded delivery or otherwise, is opened and distributed to the appropriate office for action from one of the two mail opening units. The only exceptions being items identified “Official–Sensitive”, “Secret”, or “Top Secret” and providing a named individual is included.

National Insurance

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many temporary national insurance numbers were issued in (a) Bury St Edmunds constituency, (b) Suffolk (c) the East of England and (d) England and Wales by HM Revenue and Customs in each of the last five years; and what proportion of such numbers were issued for tax credit purposes.

Esther McVey: The Government do not issue temporary National Insurance numbers. DWP on behalf of HMRC follows a secure and validated allocation process which results in an individual receiving a permanent national insurance number.

Pay

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many contracted staff there are carrying out functions for his Department who are paid less than the Living Wage by (a) occupation, (b) location and (c) contractor;

Michael Penning: DWP have discussed with contractors the payment of the London Living Wage. Telereal Trillium have worked with us so that from April 2014 all of their London based staff were paid at least the level of the living wage. Discussions are continuing with our other major contractor, Cofely.
	We intend to have the same negotiations regarding staff based across the regions where the situation is currently:
	
		
			 Region Number of Staff 
			 Scotland 539 
			 North East 309 
			 North West 885 
			 Yorks and Humber 529 
			 East Midlands 255 
			 West Midlands 770 
			 East of England 252 
			 Wales 279 
			 South East 366 
			 London 2 
			 South West 307 
			 Total 4,493 
		
	
	It is not possible to provide further breakdown of these figures as this information is commercially sensitive.

Personal Independence Payment

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress he has made towards achieving his Department's aim of processing 97 per cent of assessments for personal independence payments within 30 days.

Michael Penning: We are working closely with the providers to ensure that they are taking all necessary steps to improve performance, speed up the process and ensure claimants receive a satisfactory experience.

Personal Independence Payment

Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many applications for personal independence payments remained outstanding in each month since April 2013 in (a) Leicester West constituency and (b) total;
	(2)  how many applications for personal independence payments have been made in each month since April 2013 in (a) Leicester West constituency and (b) the UK;
	(3)  how many decisions on applications for personal independence payments have been made in each month since April 2013 in (a) Leicester West constituency and (b) the UK.

Michael Penning: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Stephen Twigg) and the hon. Member for Airdrie and Shotts (Pamela Nash), on 5 March 2014, Official Report, column 850W.

Social Security Benefits

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants of (a) incapacity benefit and employment support allowance, (b) disability living allowance and (c) severe disablement allowance claiming for each type of disability there were in (i) Bury St Edmunds constituency, (ii) Suffolk, (iii) the East of England and (iv) England and Wales in each of the last five years; and how much was spent in each such category in each such year.

Michael Penning: Due to changes in medical condition definitions breakdown data are only available from 2011-12 for disability living allowance—“Expenditure and Caseloads” by medical condition—these can be found in tables which will be placed in the Library.
	Breakdowns prior to 2010-11 are not available for employment and support allowance.

Work Capability Assessment

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many work capability assessment reassessments were undertaken by Atos in each of the last 12 months;
	(2)  how many work capability assessments for new claims were undertaken by Atos in each of the last 12 months.

Michael Penning: This information for completed functional assessments can be found in tables at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/statistics

Work Capability Assessment

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his Department has issued guidance to Atos on how to prioritise work capability assessments between reassessments and new claimants for employment and support allowance.

Michael Penning: The Department does not issue guidance to Atos Healthcare on how to prioritise work capability assessments.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Arrest Warrants

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will estimate how many fugitives each year would not be returned to the UK if the UK does not opt into the European Arrest Warrant.

James Brokenshire: I refer my hon. Friend to page 27 of the Government response to the European Scrutiny Committee Report of 7 November 2013.
	http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmeuleg/978/978.pdf
	The report includes numerous examples of people surrendered to the UK under an EAW who would not have been extradited under the predecessor process. This is the 1957 European Convention on Extradition (ECE), a much older and more restrictive regime, which allows states to refuse the extradition of their nationals, however grave the crimes for which they are requested; permits the refusal to extradite for offences which are time-barred under the law of the requested state; and has a bar on extradition for some tax offences.

Bangladesh

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the immigration status is of Tareque Rahman, Vice Chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

James Brokenshire: For reasons of confidentiality, the Home Office does not routinely comment on individual cases.

Borders: Personal Records

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many exit checks were performed on passengers leaving the UK in each year since 2010.

James Brokenshire: The number of outbound passengers checked on Home Office systems for each of the last four years is as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
			 2010 65,034,675 
			 2011 70,627,943 
			 2012 67,960,290 
			 2013 82,311,725 
		
	
	The figure for 2013 is more than the combined total of exit checks performed between 2005 and 2009 inclusive (74,297,809) and more than twice the 2009 figure (35,283,019).

Borders: Personal Records

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will introduce exit checks to apply to non-scheduled international travel by air, sea and rail services.

James Brokenshire: Exit checks were abolished by the Labour Government in 1998. The Coalition Agreement committed this Government to reinstate them. By April 2015, comprehensive exit checks will apply on scheduled, commercial air, sea and rail routes.
	We are also working with operators in the General Aviation and General Maritime sectors to strengthen border security checks on those who leave the UK on non-scheduled services.

Compulsorily Detained Mental Patients

Charles Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police forces in England have signed local protocols for those detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.

Damian Green: I understand that, as of 13 May 2014, 36 of the 39 territorial police forces in England—plus British Transport police—are currently signed up to local protocols for those detained under the Mental Health Act 1983. The other three forces report that they are in the process of agreeing such protocols with local partner agencies.
	The agreement of mental health protocols by local agencies is promoted at national level, including through the Mental Health Act 1983 codes of practice and the new national Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat, which states that:
	“Every area should have a local protocol in place, agreed by NHS commissioners, the police force, the ambulance service and social services. This should describe the approach to be taken when a police officer uses powers under the Mental Health Act”.
	The Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/281242/36353_Mental_Health_Crisis_accessible.pdf
	The Department of Health, supported by the Home Office and Mind, is encouraging local areas to sign-up to the principles of the concordat, with the expectation that all areas in England will have signed local declarations by December 2014. The Department of Health will publish details of the areas that have signed such declarations.

Deportation

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what payments her Department makers to destination countries for visas allowing entry to people being deported from the UK to those countries.

James Brokenshire: We work closely with embassies from a wide range of countries to obtain travel documents, rather than visas, to assist removal. We pay a small administrative fee for these documents, which enable the removal of people who have no right to be in the UK.

Deportation: Offenders

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed removals of foreign national offenders there were in each year since 2010.

James Brokenshire: I will write to the right hon. Member.

Deportation: Offenders

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many deportation orders were issued to foreign national offenders in each year since 2010.

James Brokenshire: I will write to the right hon. Member.

Domestic Violence

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the report from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, Everyone's Business: Improving the police response to domestic abuse, who the members of the National Oversight Group are; and whether the group has yet met.

Norman Baker: I will write to the hon. Member.

Domestic Violence

Gordon Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will bring forward legislative proposals to criminalise psychological abuse and coercive control in domestic violence situations.

Norman Baker: I will write to the hon. Member.

Domestic Violence

Gordon Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce a new offence whereby a prosecution can be brought on the basis of a course of conduct in which a person has acted strategically to control, isolate, intimidate and degrade their victim in domestic violence cases.

Norman Baker: It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Domestic Violence

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will revise guidelines for the Metropolitan Police on whether domestic violence cases should be referred to the Crown Prosecution Service before prosecutions can be initiated by the police; and if she will make a statement.

Norman Baker: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Educational Testing Service

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  if she will publish the proposed (a) terms of reference, (b) method and (c) timescale of her Department’s investigation into language tests organised by the Educational Testing Service;
	(2)  what estimate she has made of the income provided to the Educational Testing Service for English language tests by (a) individuals, (b) companies and (c) her Department in each of the last three years.

James Brokenshire: On 6 February 2014, ETS were instructed to suspend all English language testing in the UK for immigration purposes and from the same date, all immigration applications made in the UK that are supported by an ETS test certificate have been placed on hold. On 5 April, the licence ETS held to conduct English language testing for immigration purposes expired and it has not been renewed. A criminal investigation, which began before the BBC Panorama programme aired allegations with respect to ETS testing conducted in the UK, remains ongoing.

Entry Clearances: Overseas Students

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 28 April 2014, Official Report, columns 526-27, on student visas, if she will publish details of the successful pilot with one university on ensuring overseas students return home once their course is completed.

James Brokenshire: Foreign national students who had been served with an adverse immigration decision were, at times, encountering a delay in receiving their travel documents back from the Home Office. On occasion, this resulted in their immigration status changing to an overstayer.
	The pilot referred to was conducted through an informal relationship between the south central immigration compliance and enforcement (ICE) team and the international student advisers embedded within two local universities. Through this link, those whose leave has been curtailed, have had an adverse decision, or wish to depart the UK are provided with local assistance by the immigration enforcement team. The pilot has enabled the local ICE team to facilitate the return of travel documents quickly, resulting in an earlier departure for the student. This has benefits for both the student and university as becoming an overstayer could jeopardise future applications from students to continue their studies. During 2013-14, 50 students were assisted in this way from two universities (this is local data taken from local records that has not been sourced from an official database).
	The Government is looking at how this example of local good practice can be extended nationally.

Human Trafficking

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the foreword to the Draft Modern Slavery Bill, when she plans to start the review of the operation and effectiveness of the National Referral Mechanism; how long that review will take; who will undertake it; and when it will be published.

Karen Bradley: The review into the operation and effectiveness of the National Referral Mechanism was announced on 9 April 2014. I have placed a copy of the Terms of Reference in the Libraries of both Houses.

Human Trafficking: Victim Support Schemes

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  pursuant to the answers of 30 April 2014, Official Report, column 717W and of 14 January 2014, Official Report, column 481W, on human trafficking: victim support schemes, for what reason the gender and location of each individual is not included in the information for February 2014; and if she will provide this information for future questions on the subject;
	(2)  pursuant to the answer of 30 April 2014, Official Report, column 717W, on human trafficking: victim support schemes, how many of those referred were (a) men and (b) women; what steps are taken to ensure that after victims leave the shelter into which they have been placed by the Salvation Army they are not re-trafficked and do not contact their former traffickers; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley: The requested information on the gender of potential victims and the regions in which they were found (answer 30 April 2014, Official Report, column 717W, refers) was not withheld and is provided in the following table.
	The victim care contract does not require support providers to maintain any form of formal contact with victims after the recovery and reflection period. All support providers work with victims throughout their support period to help them move on from the service. Through the National Referral Mechanism review and the re-tender of the adult victims care contract, we are looking at what more we can do to help victims recover and reintegrate effectively.
	The table contains the requested details of the 126 referrals in February 2014.
	
		
			 Nationality Gender Region Agency Type 
			 Afghanistani Male South Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South East Local Authority 
			 Albanian Female Yorkshire Self Referral 
			 Albanian Female Wales Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South East Local Authority 
			 Albanian Female South Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South Home Office 
			 Albanian Male Not Known Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South NGO 
			 Albanian Female South East Home Office 
			 Albanian Female Yorkshire Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South East Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South East Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South East Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South NGO 
			 Albanian Female Wales Legal Representative 
			 Albanian Female Yorkshire Home Office 
			 Albanian Female South East Home Office 
			 Albanian Male South East Home Office 
			 Albanian Female Yorkshire NGO 
			 Albanian Female West Midlands NGO 
			 Albanian Female South East Police 
			 Albanian Female Yorkshire Home Office 
			 Bangladeshi Female South NGO 
			 Beninese Female South Home Office 
			 Boswana Female Not Known Self Referral 
			 British Female West Midlands NGO 
			 British Female South Police 
			 British Male South Police 
			 British Male South Police 
			 British Female South West Police 
			 British Male West Midlands Home Office 
			 British Male Wales Police 
			 British Male South East Police 
			 Burmese Female South East Home Office 
			 Cameroonian Male North West Home Office 
			 Cameroonian Female South Police 
			 Chinese Male South West Home Office 
			 Czech Male Yorkshire NGO 
			 Czech Female South West Police 
			 Eritrean Female Wales Home Office 
			 Eritrean Female South East Health Services 
			 Eritrean Female South East Other 
			 Ethiopian Female Wales Home Office 
			 Ethiopian Female South Home Office 
			 Ethiopian Female Yorkshire Home Office 
			 Ghanaian Female South East NGO 
			 Ghanaian Female South Home Office 
			 Ghanaian Female Not Known Home Office 
			 Guinean Female South Legal Representative 
			 Hungarian Male Yorkshire Police 
			 Hungarian Male Yorkshire NGO 
			 Hungarian Male Yorkshire NGO 
			 Hungarian Male Yorkshire NGO 
			 Hungarian Female South East Police 
			 Indonesian Female Yorkshire NGO 
		
	
	
		
			 Italian Female South East Self Referral 
			 Ivory Coast Female South NGO 
			 Jordanian/ Latvian Male Wales Home Office 
			 Kenyan Female South Home Office 
			 Korean Female South Home Office 
			 Kosovan Female North East Home Office 
			 Lithuanian Male South East Police 
			 Lithuanian Male Yorkshire NGO 
			 Lithuanian Male South West Police 
			 Lithuanian Male South West Police 
			 Lithuanian Female South East Police 
			 Lithuanian Female South East Police 
			 Nigerian Female South East NGO 
			 Nigerian Female North East Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female South Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female North West Legal Representative 
			 Nigerian Female South Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female South NGO 
			 Nigerian Female North East Home Office 
			 Nigerian Male Yorkshire Home Office 
			 Nigerian Male South East Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female South East Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female North West Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female South NGO 
			 Nigerian Female South Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female North West Home Office 
			 Nigerian Male South Home Office 
			 Nigerian Male North West NGO 
			 Nigerian Female North West Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female South East Self Referral 
			 Nigerian Female South Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female East Home Office 
			 Nigerian Male North West NGO 
			 Nigerian Female South Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female South Home Office 
			 Nigerian Female South East Self Referral 
			 Nigerian Female South East Self Referral 
			 Pakistani Male South East Home Office 
			 Polish Female Wales Police 
			 Polish Male East Midlands Police 
			 Polish Male West Midlands Police 
			 Polish Female South East Police 
			 Polish Male West Midlands Police 
			 Romanian Male East Other 
			 Romanian Female South East Police 
			 Romanian Male South East Police 
			 Slovakian Male Yorkshire Police 
			 Slovakian Female South Police 
			 Slovakian Female South Police 
			 Slovakian Male South West Police 
			 Slovakian Male South West Police 
			 Slovakian Male South West Police 
			 Slovakian Female West Midlands Police 
			 Slovakian Male Yorkshire NGO 
			 Somali Female South Home Office 
			 Sri Lankan Female South Home Office 
			 Sri Lankan Female Yorkshire Self Referral 
		
	
	
		
			 St Vincent and the Grenadines Female North East Home Office 
			 Ugandan Female South NGO 
			 Ugandan Female South East NGO 
			 Ugandan Female South Health Services 
			 Vietnamese Female Wales Home Office 
			 Vietnamese Female Yorkshire NGO 
			 Vietnamese Male East Home Office 
			 Vietnamese Male Yorkshire Home Office 
			 Vietnamese Female South Home Office

Immigration Controls: Commonwealth Games 2014

Iain McKenzie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she has made an assessment of the UK Border Force's ability to process passengers at Glasgow Airport for the forthcoming Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: Border Force planning for the Commonwealth Games has been under way since December 2012. Border Force is currently working with Glasgow Airport to refurbish the arrivals control, providing an increased number of arrivals desks and utilising the latest technology in the form of electronic passport gates. This will enhance the arrivals experience at Glasgow and the increased capacity will ensure that passengers pass through the arrivals area as quickly as possible while, at the same time, maintaining border security.

Immigration Controls: ICT

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which sites were affected by the failure of UK Border Agency computers at passport control on 30 April 2014; what steps she is taking to investigate and rectify the problem; and what assessment she has made of the reasons for the computer failure.

James Brokenshire: This was a national issue and all ports were affected. The issue was rectified as soon as possible, with national security our first priority at all times. An urgent investigation is being conducted to examine the circumstances surrounding this incident.

Immigration: Appeals

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many immigration appeal hearings lost by the Government her Department failed to send a presenting officer in each of the last four years.

James Brokenshire: I will write to the right hon. Member.

Immigration: Appeals

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department to how many immigration appeal hearings the Home Office failed to send a presenting officer in each of the last four years.

James Brokenshire: I will write to the right hon. Member.

Marriage of Convenience

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many incidents of immigration marriage fraud through bigamy have been reported to her Department in each year since 2004;
	(2)  if she will bring forward legislative proposals to include (a) marriage fraud and (b) marriage achieved through a material misrepresentation in the criteria for the annulment of a marriage;
	(3)  what steps her Department is taking to tackle (a) immigration marriage fraud and (b) immigration marriage fraud through bigamy;
	(4)  how many people convicted of immigration marriage fraud through bigamy have been deported in each year since 2004;
	(5)  how many successful prosecutions for immigration marriage fraud through bigamy there have been in each year since 2004;
	(6)  what steps she is taking to ensure that all those convicted of marriage fraud through bigamy are deported;
	(7)  what joint actions her Department is taking with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to tackle immigration marriage fraud through bigamy;
	(8)  what steps her Department takes to assist the victims of immigration marriage fraud through bigamy.

James Brokenshire: We do not separately record the number of allegations of immigration marriage fraud through bigamy.
	We have no plans to change the law on the annulment of marriages. The Immigration Bill will introduce new measures to prevent sham marriages gaining an immigration advantage. Immigration Enforcement is strengthening its response to all cases of suspected immigration marriage fraud, by piloting operational hubs designed to react quickly to reports of suspicious marriages from registrars or members of the public.
	We do not separately record the number of people deported following a conviction for immigration marriage fraud through bigamy. Nor do we separately record the number of successful prosecutions for immigration marriage fraud through bigamy.
	UK Visas and Immigration and Immigration Enforcement, including the Risk and Liaison Overseas Network, work with Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff overseas to investigate suspected immigration marriage fraud. This includes accessing local records to ascertain whether someone is married already and providing that information to staff making immigration decisions.
	The Home Office will normally pursue the deportation of foreign nationals where they have been convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to a period of imprisonment of at least 12 months. Where a foreign national has been convicted but has received a shorter sentence, consideration will be given to deporting them. If deportation is not appropriate, administrative removal may be pursued, for example, if the person has no leave to enter or remain in the UK or if their leave is curtailed.
	Bigamy is a criminal offence. Where the Home Office receives information about suspected bigamy, this is passed to the relevant police force to investigate. It will also be noted on Home Office systems to inform the consideration of any immigration application seeking to rely on the marriage.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 17 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr Asif Rafiq.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 8 May 2014.

National Security

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which body has been provided with copies of the section 94 directions issued by her in order to provide oversight since May 2010.

James Brokenshire: Section 94 of the Telecommunications Act 1984 states that the Secretary of State may issue directions in the interests of national security. When disclosure of these directions would be contrary to interests of national security or relations with the government of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom or the commercial interests of any person, these are not laid before the House. Consistent with the practice of successive Governments, we do not comment on national security matters.

Police: Translation Services

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of translation and interpreter services used by each police force in England and Wales has been in each of the last five years.

Damian Green: This information is not held centrally.

Proceeds of Crime

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 1 April 2014, Official Report, columns 615-6W, on proceeds of crime, what UK law enforcement agencies do with money frozen at the request of jurisdiction overseas; and how much has been frozen since 2008-09.

Oliver Heald: I have been asked to reply.
	Incoming requests for mutual legal assistance to freeze assets must be sent to the UK Central Authority (UKCA) based in the Home Office. If the request is accepted by the Home Office, the UKCA will refer the request to the CPS, or the SFO, for action.
	When the UKCA forwards the request to either organisation, specialist prosecutors work with financial investigators to prepare a restraint application for the Crown court. If the Crown court grants the application for restraint, the suspect, defendant and any third parties will be ordered not to dissipate the assets covered by the restraint order. Breaches of the order are dealt with as a contempt of court. In some cases a management receiver may be appointed to take control of identified assets.
	When the requesting state has a final confiscation order, which is not subject to an appeal, the CPS or SFO may be requested to enforce the order.
	In respect of the amount of money frozen at the request of overseas jurisdictions I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 6 May 2014, Official Report, column 8W.

Sequestration of Assets

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will place a copy of the Beloff review on UK asset recovery in the Library.

Karen Bradley: Internal Government advice is not published and therefore we do not intend to place a copy of Mr Beloff, QC’s opinion in the Library. The Government’s Serious and Organised Crime Strategy sets out how we will amend our legal powers to make it harder for criminals to move, hide and use the proceeds of crime. This has been informed by legal opinion on, and lessons learned from, the work of the Arab Spring Asset Recovery Task Force.

Torture

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer of 17 September 2012, Official Report, column 512W, on torture, what the result of the audit was; if she will publish the audit; what training requirements were identified by the audit; whether that training has been delivered; if she will publish the training materials; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: An audit of casework relating to reports made under Rule 35 of the Detention Centre Rules 2001 began in April this year and will be completed in June. The findings of the audit will be made available later in the summer and will be used to identify good practice and areas for improvement.

EDUCATION

Academies

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the average annual revenue budget was for an (a) primary school academy and (b) secondary school academy in England and Wales in financial year 2012-13.

David Laws: Annual revenue budgets for primary and secondary academies for the academic year September 2012 to August 2013 are available on the gov.uk website:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-pre-16-allocation-data-2012-to-2013-academic-year
	Education in Wales is a devolved matter for the Welsh Government.

Children: Day Care

Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the number of registered childcare places was in (a) London and (b) each London borough in each of the last five years.

Elizabeth Truss: I have asked Ofsted to respond using the data they hold on registered child care places. HM chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has written to the right hon. Lady, and a copy of his response has been placed in the House Libraries. Some providers such as schools with nursery provision for children aged three or over are exempt from registration. The number of places therefore may not include the full range of early years provision available in the area.
	In addition, the Department for Education’s Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey collects data on all registered child care places, including those in maintained schools and nurseries. These figures are therefore more comprehensive than the Ofsted figures; however, data is only available at a national and regional level.
	The table below provides data for 2009, 2010 and 2011. This shows that in 2011 there were 141,800 early years places in schools in London. Data is not available for 2012. Data from the 2013 survey will be published in September 2014.
	
		
			 Number of registered places in London and England 
			  2009 20101 2011 
			  England London England London England London 
			 Full day care 647,800 102,200 716,700 99,200 721,500 100,900 
			 Sessional 227,900 25,100 251,000 35,600 251,000 38,400 
			 After school clubs 272,500 47,400 368,100 58,800 357,400 54,100 
			 Holiday clubs 260,400 38,800 349,400 61,000 339,300 49,400 
			 Childminders 262,900 37,700 245,100 38,300 236,900 37,200 
			 Total child care 1,671,500 251,100 1,930,300 292,800 1,906,100 280,100 
			 Nursery schools 29,600 4,700 25,300 5,100 25,900 5,600 
			 Primary schools with nursery and reception classes 468,300 107,400 491,800 125,800 489,100 121,000 
			 Primary schools with reception but no nursery classes 272,700 17,300 308,400 16,600 286,900 15,200 
			 Total early years 770,600 129,500 825,500 147,500 802,000 141,800 
			 Total overall2 2,442,100 380,600 2,755,800 440,300 2,708,100 421,900 
			 1 A new sampling approach was adopted in the 2010 survey due to changes in the way Ofsted classified child care providers; this may have impacted on trends between 2010 and previous years. 2 Totals may not equal the sum of the constituent parts due to rounding. Source: Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey. 
		
	
	Letter from Michael Wilshaw, dated 28 April 2014
	Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, for reply.
	The information you have requested is presented in the table below. The figures show the number of places offered by childcare providers on Ofsted’s Early Years Register in each London local authority. This information is presented for each of the last five years as of 30 September. These figures correspond to those in Ofsted’s published official statistics releases.
	A copy of this reply has been sent to Elizabeth Truss MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education and Childcare, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
	
		
			 Registered child care places in London 
			  As at 30 September each year 
			  2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 
			 All London 200,893 199,832 197,643 193,587 195,782 
			       
			 Barking and Dagenham 3,915 4,153 3,989 3,792 4,039 
			 Barnet 9,238 8,760 8,802 8,551 8,543 
			 Bexley 5,933 5,788 5,647 5,344 5,412 
			 Brent 5,977 6,229 5,733 5,982 6,013 
			 Bromley 10,836 10,628 10,968 10,375 10,369 
			 Camden 5,266 4,941 5,088 5,372 5,447 
			 City of London 306 306 304 225 240 
			 Croydon 10,359 10,438 10,446 10,686 10,975 
			 Ealing 8,416 8,066 7,942 7,740 7,770 
			 Enfield 6,982 7,182 7,208 7,049 7,243 
			 Greenwich 6,714 6,422 6,411 6,376 6,953 
			 Hackney 5,100 5,551 5,785 5,931 5,943 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 4,664 4,499 4,234 4,183 4,297 
			 Haringey 4,919 4,870 4,880 4,854 4,984 
			 Harrow 5,423 5,490 5,179 4,947 4,737 
			 Havering 5,478 5,373 5,443 5,037 4,959 
			 Hillingdon 6,713 6,357 6,669 6,087 6,311 
			 Hounslow 5,532 5,129 5,131 5,027 4,927 
			 Islington 4,751 4,690 4,538 4,666 4,717 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 3,604 3,602 3,688 3,736 3,718 
			 Kingston upon Thames 4,489 4,432 4,421 4,256 4,598 
			 Lambeth 7,117 7,386 7,268 7,489 7,308 
			 Lewisham 7,876 8,003 7,866 7,587 7,537 
			 Merton 5,659 5,370 4,983 4,519 4,659 
			 Newham 5,078 4,969 4,844 4,776 4,880 
			 Redbridge 6,662 6,608 6,741 6,103 6,386 
			 Richmond upon Thames 8,046 7,998 7,290 6,685 6,606 
			 Southwark 7,388 8,054 8,215 8,764 8,892 
			 Sutton 5,030 4,927 4,730 4,520 4,452 
			 Tower Hamlets 4,370 4,328 3,963 4,300 4,336 
		
	
	
		
			 Waltham Forest 6,703 6,549 6,327 6,404 6,398 
			 Wandsworth 8,089 8,580 8,723 8,486 8,189 
			 Westminster 4,257 4,150 4,186 3,738 3,941 
			 Notes: 1. Registered places are the number of children that may attend the provision at any one time. Registered places are not the number of places occupied, nor the number of children who may benefit from receiving places through providers offering sessions at different times of the day. Place numbers are only collected for providers on the early years register. 2. Providers must join the early years register if they care for children aged 0-5, but some may also take older children, and the numbers show the total places available for children under eight. 3. Providers can only care for children in accordance with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. As of 1 September 2012, Ofsted ceased to set additional conditions at registration and will only update data on available places at inspection. 4. Averages are used for a very small number of providers whose place numbers are not available at the time of the analysis. There are very small discrepancies in totals due to rounding. 5. Some providers such as schools with nursery provision for children aged three or over are exempt from registration. The number of places therefore may not include the full range of early years provision available in the area.

Free Schools

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what progress he has made on making the process for school leaving local education authority control to become free schools easier.

Edward Timpson: Free schools are a type of academy, established either as new provision or by independent schools joining the state sector. Maintained schools cannot become free schools, but they can convert to become academies, which enjoy broadly the same freedoms as free schools. The Department for Education is continually refining the academy conversion process. Guidance has been shortened, documentation simplified and standardised, including a ‘plain English’ version of the funding agreement, and an online application form introduced in March, saving schools time in submitting information to the Department.
	The number of converter academies continues to increase, with 2,795 converter academies open as of May 2014.

Free Schools

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assistance his Department provides for small independent schools making applications for free school status; and if he will take steps to increase such assistance.

Edward Timpson: The Department for Education provides comprehensive guidance for all free school applicants on the criteria that successful applications need to meet. The Department also provides a grant to the New Schools Network to provide free expert support to applicants to develop their free school application.

Free Schools

Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to reform faith-based admissions to free schools.

Michael Gove: Faith designated free schools can use faith as a criterion for admitting up to 50% of their pupils, when oversubscribed. I have no plans to change this rule.

Free Schools: Hertfordshire

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools in North Herefordshire have unsuccessfully applied for free school status.

Edward Timpson: There have been two applications to establish free schools in North Herefordshire: one in 2012 was successful and one in 2013 was unsuccessful.
	A list of all applications to establish free schools is published online at:
	Wave 1 and 2:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/name-local-authority-previous-school-name-and-faith-designation-of-applications-to-open-a-free-school-waves-1-and-2
	Wave 3:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/name-local-authority-previous-school-name-and-faith-designation-of-applications-to-open-a-free-school-wave-3
	Wave 4:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-schools-wave-4-application-information
	Wave 5:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-schools-wave-5-application-information

Pre-school Education

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 10 April 2014, Official Report, column 414W, on pre-school education, who the 43 early years providers are who have been granted full or partial exemptions from the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage framework.

Elizabeth Truss: Local authorities have a statutory duty to secure free early years provision for eligible children in their area. Local authorities determine which providers should receive early education funding in accordance with statutory guidance issued by the Department for Education. Since September 2013, local authorities have been expected to base their decision on whether to fund providers to deliver early education places solely on a provider’s most recent Ofsted judgment.
	Exemptions to the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) can be made only in one of two circumstances:
	When the provider is a good or outstanding independent school.
	When the provision is governed by established principles relating to learning and development and those cannot be reconciled with an element or elements of EYFS, for example in Steiner schools.
	Exempt providers remain subject to inspection and any independent school which subsequently falls below ‘good’ loses their exemption. The first exemption was introduced in 2012. The second exemption was in place under the previous Government.
	The answer of 10 April 2014, Official Report, column 414W, on pre-school education) explained that departmental records showed there were 43 early years providers with full or partial exemptions from the learning and development requirements of the EYFS, that were in receipt of local authority funding for early education at the time the exemption was granted to the provider.
	34 of these are still in receipt of local authority funding for early education. A further five providers with a full or partial exemption are now in receipt of early education funding but were not at the point their exemption was granted. One further provider has received an exemption since the previous PQ was answered and is in receipt of early education funding. Of these 40 providers, 33 are exempt under the exemption in place under the previous Government, only seven are exempt under the exemption introduced in 2012. These 40 providers are shown in the following table.
	Providers who were in receipt of local authority funding for early education at the time their exemption was granted and continue to receive such funding:
	
		
			  Reasons for exemption 
			 1. Apple Star Early Years (Community Interest Company), Reading Steiner—Established principle route 
			 2. AZBUKA Russian Nursery, London Language—Established principle route 
			 3. Beechtree Steiner Kindergarten, Leeds Steiner—Established principle route 
			 4. Botton Village School, North Yorkshire Steiner—Established principle route 
			 5. Brighton Steiner School Steiner—Established principle route 
			 6. Bromsgrove (Pre-Prep and Nursery) School, Worcestershire Independent—Good 
			 7. Buttercups Little Kindergarten, Cambridgeshire Steiner—Established principle route 
			 8. Calder Valley Steiner School, Calderdale Steiner—Established principle route 
			 9. Cambridge Steiner School Kindergarten Steiner—Established principle route 
			 10. Children of One End Street, Gloucestershire Steiner—Established principle route 
			 11. Children’s Garden, Exeter Steiner—Established principle route 
			 12. Children’s Garden, Richmond Steiner—Established principle route 
			 13. Children’s Garden, University of East London Steiner—Established principle route 
			 14. Cobnuts Steiner Kindergarten, Kent Steiner—Established principle route 
			 15. Elmfield Rudolf Steiner School, Dudley Steiner—Established principle route 
			 16. Falkner House, London Independent—Outstanding 
			 17. Greenwich Steiner School Steiner—Established principle route 
			 18. Hoathly Hill Kindergarten, West Sussex Steiner—Established principle route 
			 19. Kingsley School, Bideford Independent—Good 
			 20. Lancaster Steiner School Steiner—Established principle route 
			 21. Laurel Farm Kindergarten, Bath Steiner—Established principle route 
			 22. Michael Hall School Kindergarten, East Sussex Steiner—Established principle route 
		
	
	
		
			 23. Michael House a Steiner Waldorf School, Heanor Steiner—Established principle route 
			 24. North London Rudolph Steiner School Steiner—Established principle route 
			 25. Rowan Tree Kindergarten, Bristol Steiner—Established principle route 
			 26. Rudolph Steiner School, Kings Langley Steiner—Established principle route 
			 27. St Albans Steiner Kindergarten Steiner—Established principle route 
			 28. St Michael Steiner School, London Steiner—Established principle route 
			 29. St Paul’s Steiner School, London Steiner—Established principle route 
			 30. Sunlands Kindergarten, Gloucestershire Steiner—Established principle route 
			 31. The Ryleys School, Cheshire Independent—Outstanding 
			 32. Waldorf Steiner of South West London Steiner—Established principle route 
			 33. Willow Tree Steiner School, Bristol Steiner—Established principle route 
			 34. York Steiner School Steiner—Established principle route 
		
	
	The following five providers are now in receipt of early education funding, but were not at the point their exemption was granted:
	
		
			  Reasons for exemption 
			 1. Elysia Children’s Garden Steiner—Established principle route 
			 2. James Allen’s Preparatory School, London Independent—Outstanding 
			 3. Oswestry School (Bellan House), Shropshire Independent—Outstanding 
			 4. The Linden Kindergarten, Gloucestershire Steiner—Established principle route 
			 5. Wynstones School, Gloucestershire Steiner—Established principle route 
		
	
	One further provider has received an exemption since the previous PQ was answered and is in receipt of early education funding:
	
		
			  Reasons for exemption 
			 1. Finton House, London Independent—Outstanding

Schools: Land

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 6 May 2014, Official Report, column 63W, on schools: land, what his policy is on requiring school land which has been transferred to a person involved in the running of an academy to be returned to the local authority should that academy trust cease to operate a state-funded school.

Edward Timpson: If an academy trust ceases to operate a state-funded school, the Department for Education would normally identify another academy trust to take responsibility for the academy. Land would be transferred to the new trust-either as a leasehold or freehold. In the unlikely event that an academy closes entirely, the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), can exercise his powers to protect public land, which include returning former local authority land to the relevant authority or ensuring the land remains in educational use by transferring it to another school.

Sixth Form Education: Student Numbers

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what advance estimate he made of the number of students enrolled in (a) school sixth forms, (b) academy sixth forms and (c) 16 to 19 years free schools established since September 2011 in 2012-13; and what the number of students was in each case;
	(2)  what the cost was of student places that were not filled in (a) school sixth forms, (b) academy sixth forms and (c) 16 to 19 free schools established since September 2011 in 2012-13.

Michael Gove: The total number of students funded in 2012/13 in school sixth forms, academy sixth forms and 16-19 free schools established since September 2011 was 9,610 and the total actual number of students enrolled was 7,775. The numbers by institution type are as follows:
	
		
			 Institution type 2012/13 funded students 2012/13 actual students 
			 Academy 5,276 4,152 
			 16-19 Free School 220 197 
			 School Sixth Form 4,114 3,426 
			 Total 9,610 7,775 
		
	
	The majority of academies and all maintained schools are funded on a lagged basis so that numbers recruited in one year will then determine the allocation in the following year. Some academies are funded on the basis of estimated numbers, and their funding is then adjusted based on actual recruitment. The impact on sixth form funding of any such adjustments is included in these figures.
	The approximate total net cost of unfilled places in respect of the above in 2012/13 was £5.76 million. Institutions with unfilled places will have their funding reduced in the following year. The costs by institution type are as follows:
	
		
			 Institution type Net cost of unfilled places (£ million) 
			 SSF 3.24 
			 Academy 2.39 
			 16-19 Free School 0.13 
			 Total 5.76

Special Educational Needs

Gavin Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much special educational needs funding has been allocated per pupil in special schools in (a) Staffordshire, (b) Birmingham, (c) Wolverhampton and (d) the UK in (i) 2012-13, (ii) 2013-14 and (iii) 2014-15.

David Laws: Special schools funding is not allocated on a per-pupil basis. Special schools funding is part of the overall Dedicated Schools Grant allocated to each local authority to fund their schools’ budget. It is for local authorities to determine the individual allocation to schools.

Young People: Apprentices

Phillip Lee: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to ensure more employers offer apprenticeships to 16 to 18 year-olds.

Matthew Hancock: We are building on the success of the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers by providing an additional £170 million over the next two years. This additional support will fund over 100,000 incentive payments of £1,500 to employers. Grants will be targeted where they will be most effective.
	Apprenticeship reforms are putting employers in the driving seat of designing world-class standards for apprenticeships, making it easier for them to offer more Apprenticeships in the future.

Young People: Unemployment

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of young people aged (a) 16, (b) 17 and (c) 18 were not in full-time education or training in (i) Bury St Edmunds constituency, (ii) Suffolk, (iii) the East of England and (d) England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Matthew Hancock: The Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Participation in education, training and employment, age 16 to 18’ published on 13 March 2014 shows estimates of both the numbers and proportions of 16- and 17-year-olds not in full-time education or in work-based learning (almost exclusively apprenticeships). As well as those not participating in any education or training, the numbers include young people who were in part-time education and/or those undergoing training with a privately-funded training provider. Estimates are not available at sub-national level for 18-year-olds.
	The SFR shows estimates for Suffolk Local Authority, the East of England, and England. The data is not available at parliamentary constituency level nor does an estimate exist that includes Wales.
	The SFR is published online and is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/participation-in-education-training-and-employment-by-16-to-18-year-olds-in-england-end-2012

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Affordable Housing: Greater London

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average proportion of market rent of all affordable housing is in each London borough.

Kris Hopkins: I have placed in the Library of the House, a table showing affordable and social rents as a proportion of market rents, for each London borough.
	The affordable rent model allows for more new affordable housing to be delivered with lower levels of taxpayer capital subsidy and by levering in more private investment. The programme is helping deliver £15 billion of private investment in new affordable housing over the current spending review, alongside £4.5 billion of public investment. Social rent and affordable rent go hand in hand; both help provide accommodation for those on low incomes.
	As the National Audit Office has observed: “the Department selected the best delivery model open to it for the funds it had available” and “the Department has so far achieved its policy objective to maximise the number of homes delivered within the available grant funding” (National Audit Office, “Financial viability of the social housing sector: introducing the Affordable Homes programme”, 4 July 2012, HC465, pp.6-7).
	I note in his recent Fabian Society pamphlet, the right hon. Member has complained that affordable rent would result in rents of 80% of market rents in London. Whilst it varies by borough, as the table shows, for example, affordable rent levels are 38% of average local market rents in Camden, 48% in Islington, 54% in Southwark and 35% in Westminster, reflecting local circumstances.
	I also observe that the housing policy announced at the Labour party conference in October 2012 also endorsed the use of affordable rents to build new homes; albeit this point is frequently lost on many Labour hon. Members who proceed to attack the basic principle of affordable rent in allowing more new affordable homes to be built using taxpayer capital subsidy.

Allotments

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  how many applications to dispose of statutory allotments have been (a) submitted, (b) approved and (c) rejected in each local authority area in each year since 2010;
	(2)  how many applications he has (a) received and (b) approved for the disposal of allotment sites in each year since 2010 in England; and in what local authority each such site was located.

Stephen Williams: Further to the Allotments Act 1925, applications for consent to dispose of allotment land are submitted to the Department by local councils (parish councils and principal authorities). The following table shows the breakdown of applications since May 2010.
	
		
			  Granted Withdrawn Refused 
			 May 2010 to March 2011 18 6 0 
			 2011-12 17 5 0 
			 2012-13 15 2 1 
			 2013-14 17 1 4 
			 2014-15 (to date) 1 1 0 
		
	
	To place this in context, the Secretary of State granted 34 allotment disposals in 2007, granted 22 in 2008 and granted 18 in 2009, while only two were declined, which is a greater rate than under this Administration.
	I observe that the right hon. Member has been quoted in the media attacking such consents. He would have been wiser however to have undertaken a closer examination of the 68 individual consents granted to the local councils since May 2010.
	The following table provides some context to help explain why there was a reasonable case by the representative local bodies for changing the statutory status of the land.
	In January 2014, my Department published ‘Allotment Disposal Guidance: Safeguards and Alternatives’ replacing the previous guidance from 2002. The new guidance strengthens allotment protection, as the requirement for waiting lists to be taken into account must now be rigorously applied to all that council’s waiting lists, not just the waiting list for the site to be disposed of. This aims to ensure that poorly maintained sites are not used to justify disposal. Ministers will be closely monitoring to ensure that this new guidance is followed.
	Notwithstanding, I have taken the opportunity to analyse these previous cases in the table. The National Allotment Society was consulted in every case, and nine out of 10 decisions were consistent with advice from the National Allotment Society (where advice was given); the remaining cases where the advice diverged related to land not actually in use as allotments, requiring a judgment call on whether it was realistic to bring the land back into productive use.
	Having analysed these approvals, I can note that half of the land disposed was not actually in use as allotments. Moreover, in every case where existing allotment plot holders were displaced, evidence from local authorities indicates that alternative plots were made available to them.
	More new plots were proposed to be created and/or vacant sites proposed to be brought back into use than the number of proposed disposals of in-use allotment plots. Consequently, the statutory disposal process overseen by the Secretary of State since May 2010 should have resulted in an increase in allotment provision not a reduction. This reflects this Government’s commitment both to supporting local communities grow their own food and to protecting important community assets.
	
		
			 Local Authority or Parish Council Background Decision Date 
			 St Helens Council Temporary easement to construct a drain, and permission for a mobile mast on small area which will not affect waiting lists. 07/06/2010 
			 Plymouth City Council Site closed in 1998 due to heavy metal contamination and no water facilities. No current plot holders. 09/06/2010 
			 Bristol City Council Site inactive for over 10 years. New replacement allotments being provided. 22/06/2010 
			 Aylesbury Vale District Council Disused part of allotment site for last 25 years. Area changed to open space. 02/07/2010 
			 North East Lincolnshire Council No allotment holders on site due to flooding issues. Site adapted for open space wetland facility, and new NHS facility. 28/07/2010 
			 Norfolk County Council Small changes to two large plots, leaving both plot holders with significant sized plots; no National Allotment Society objection. 28/07/2010 
		
	
	
		
			 Bridgwater Town Council/Sedgemoor District Council New replacement allotments to be provided. 14/09/2010 
			 Bridgwater Town Council/Sedgemoor District Council Completely vacant and derelict; new replacement allotments to be provided. 14/09/2010 
			 Stratford on Avon Council—Applicant Alcester Town Council Land transferred to Environment Agency for flood alleviation scheme; two plots affected, and alternative provisions found for the two plot holders. 13/10/2010 
			 Fylde Borough Council Extremely small change to allow a highway link road; portion of a single plot affected 22/10/2010 
			 Durham County Council Land provided to Durham Aged Miners Housing Association for social housing; new replacement allotments provided. 05/11/2010 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead Council—Applicant Cookham Parish Council Site not in use as allotments, but for previous 40 years used for grazing as animals; formalise use for grazing. 23/11/2010 
			 Redbridge Borough Council Land converted to open space play park, and alternative disused plots brought back into use as replacements. 11/01/2011 
			 Peterborough Council Land unsuitable for allotments and out of use since 1992; council already providing 119 new plots. 16/01/2011 
			 Cotswold District Council—Applicant Bourton-On-The-Water-Council Not used as allotments since 2006; site changed to community open space and picnic area; replacement plots being provided. 18/01/2011 
			 Calderdale Council Land to be used for affordable housing; supported by Calderdale Leisure Gardens; replacement plots provided. 04/03/2011 
			 Ealing Council Area not in use for allotments, but used by scouts; formalise use for scouting activities; replacement provision being provided. 04/03/2011 
			 Ealing Council Area not in use for allotments, but used by scouts; formalise use for scouting activities; replacement provision being provided. 11/03/2011 
			 Horsham District Council Consent to construct right of way track on edge of allotment; no plots lost. 29/04/2011 
			 Peterborough Council Land uses for palliative care centre and housing; new replacement plots being provided. 03/05/2011 
			 Hertfordshire County Council/Royston Town Council Temporary permission to allow construction of railway crossing; land to be returned to allotments in 2012. 23/05/2011 
		
	
	
		
			 Rutland County Council/Oakham Town Council Allotment space unused/fallow; to be used for amenity open spare for a care home; new replacement allotments provided. 25/05/2011 
			 Oxford City Council Land not used as allotments for last 30 years; no objection from National Allotment Society; site identified in Council's adopted Core Strategy as a site for residential development. 27/05/2011 
			 Southampton City Council Site for expansion of Southampton University campus; new replacement allotments to be provided. 12/07/2011 
			 Durham County Council/Ferryhill Town Council Unused since 1997; new use includes park landscape; granted on condition that land returned to allotment use if demand increases. 19/08/2011 
			 Hertfordshire County Council/Meppershall Parish Council Two plots transferred to nature reserve; the rest of the allotment site was transferred to a new location in 1962; no objection from National Allotment Society. 05/09/2011 
			 Tandridge Council—Applicant Burstow Parish Council Land to be used for affordable housing; new replacement allotments provided. 06/10/2011 
			 North Hertfordshire District Council Site unsuitable for allotments as waterlogged; transferred to adjoining natural reserve; new replacement provided. 20/10/2011 
			 Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Site currently unused; Site to be transferred to a community agriculture site. 13/12/2011 
			 Cumbria County Council/Ulveston Town Council Land covering two plots sold to meet the requirements of the Environment Agency; alternative provision provided on existing site. 14/12/2011 
			 Norfolk County Council/Forncett Parish Council Site not currently used as allotments. Land to be used for Village Hall and playgroup facilities; new replacement allotments provided. 24/01/2012 
			 Bristol City Council Land used to extend a primary school; new replacement allotments provided. 25/01/2012 
			 Mendip District Council/Parish Council of St Cuthbert Land used for recreational use and new car parking; plot holders requested the parking spaces; new replacement allotments provided. 28/02/2012 
			 Aylesbury Vale District Council/Pitstone Parish Council Site only had one tenant; land to create a new village centre and in Local Plan; new replacement allotments provided. 29/02/2012 
			 Portsmouth City Council All plots vacant as land deemed unsuitable for allotments; new use in Local Plan; new replacement allotments provided. 02/03/2012 
			 Broxtowe Borough Council Small unused corner of allotments for new tram route and parking for allotment holders; new replacement allotments provided. 23/04/2012 
		
	
	
		
			 Nottingham City Council Site allocated in 2005 Local Plan for employment purposes; council considered surplus as 300 unused allotment spaces . 25/04/2012 
			 Arun Council—Applicant Littlehampton Town Council Site not currently used for allotments; allowing access for a new road; new replacement allotment to be provided. 01/05/2012 
			 Canterbury City Council Site not currently used; partial disposal for electricity substation; supported by National Allotment Society and existing plot holders. 16/05/2012 
			 South Cambridgeshire District Council/Duxford Parish Council Land used by scouts since 1989; no current allotment holders; use by scouts formalised. 21/05/2012 
			 London Borough of Bexley Site in Local Plan for housing; no demand for current plots; monies raised will be used to improve existing allotment sites. 04/07/2012 
			 Chelmsford Borough Council Land considered unsuitable for allotments due to restricted access; no plot holders displaced; alternative plots nearby. 05/07/2012 
			 Watford Borough Council Disposal of abandoned allotments not in use for 25 years for new NHS campus scheme. 17/10/2012 
			 Bath and North East Somerset Council Land not used as allotments; no plot holders to be displaced; supported by National Allotment Society. 07/11/2012 
			 Woking Borough Council Land unsuitable for allotments; new replacement allotments provided. 15/11/2012 
			 Luton Borough Council Land not used as allotments; no plot holders to be displaced; supported by National Allotment Society. 21/11/2012 
			 Bedford Borough Council Not in use as allotments since 1987; granted subject to council actively promoting take-up of allotment plots on other sites. 07/12/2012 
			 Croydon Borough Council Land to be used for community growing under the Good Food Matters Scheme; new replacement allotments provided. 21/12/2012 
			 Peterborough City Council Technical amendment to existing consent above to include 0.05ha missed off boundary plan. 04/3/2013 
			 Birmingham City Council Derelict allotment land; no plot holders affected; new replacement allotments provided. 12/03/2013 
			 Watford Borough Council Site for major regeneration scheme for new NHS campus; new replacement allotments provided; decision subsequently re-determined. 08/05/2013 
		
	
	
		
			 Bradford Council/Keighley Town Council Partial disposal for use as woodland for benefit of residents, walkers and wildlife; new replacement allotments provided by expanding adjacent allotment. 09/05/2013 
			 Broxtowe Borough Council Small change to allotment site to allow relocation of an electricity substation causing nuisance to residents; only affects one plot, compensation provided. 23/05/2013 
			 Warwickshire County Council/Newbold Pacey and Ashorne Parish Council Unused plots converted to open space children's play area; land identified for new allotments if demand increases. 01/07/2013 
			 Watford Borough Council Unused allotment space to help expand primary school; no displaced plot holders. 04/07/2013 
			 Aylesbury Vale District Council. Applicant Pitstone Parish Council Not in use as allotments since 1960s; no objections from National Allotment Society or Pitstone Allotment Association. 30/07/2013 
			 Liverpool City Council Land for special needs school; not in use as allotments since 1998; new replacement allotments provided. 06/08/2013 
			 Bristol City Council Land for new bus rapid transit route; new replacement allotments provided; no National Allotment Society objection. 14/10/2013 
			 Oxford City Council Derelict for 10 years, to be used for affordable housing; new replacement allotments provided. 06/11/2013 
			 South Tyneside Council Unused allotment site; new replacement allotments provided. 07/11/2013 
			 South Holland Council—Applicant Pinchbeck Parish Council Disposal of 1.3 acres for affordable housing; displaced plot holder was supportive; uncultivated plots available to be brought back into use if demand. 14/11/2013 
			 Haringey Borough Council Easement granted to allow for maintenance of nearby pylons, but no actual loss of allotment land. 28/11/2013 
			 Watford Borough Council Redetermination of Watford NHS Campus site application; replacement allotments provided. 18/12/2013 
			 South Norfolk District Council/Ashill Parish Council Land not used as allotments for 10 years; no waiting list; no displaced plot holders. 09/01/2014 
			 Waverley District Council/Southwold Town Council Two plots to be used for affordable housing; new replacement allotments provided. 29/01/2014 
			 Kings Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council/Fetwell Parish Council Use of small section of site which has no plot holders and no demand for use by GP surgery. 29/01/2014 
			 Uttlesford District Council Site never actually used as allotments; council has adjacent allotment site which will remain untouched. 19/02/2014 
		
	
	
		
			 Wycombe District Council Soil sampling found contamination of land and potential risk to human health; not in use since 2009; new replacement allotment provided. 15/04/2014 
			 Note: The table is illustrative for background and does not represent the formal legal assessment of the disposal guidance. Not every National Allotment Society support or agreement is listed.

Allotments: Waiting Lists

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the average length of time a person has been on a waiting list for an allotment in each year since 2010 in England;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the average number of people on a waiting list for an allotment for every 100 plots available in England;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the number of people on a waiting list for an allotment in England in each year since 2010.

Stephen Williams: My Department does not estimate allotment waiting list times, as it is individual local authorities which have the legal responsibility for the management and provision of allotments in their area, ensuring that those who want to start an allotment can do so.
	Notwithstanding, a survey of allotment waiting lists was carried out by the National Allotment Society and Transition Town West Kirby in July 2013. Whilst there is a degree of difficulty in creating precise estimates, their research indicated that there was an average of 52 people waiting for every 100 plots (as of January 2013). These waiting list figures were down on their previous surveys, which indicated an average of 57 people waiting in January 2011 and 59 people waiting in January 2010.
	The 2013 survey also noted that that 65 new allotment sites had been created in the previous two years, across 51 councils, creating roughly 2,000 new allotment plots.
	The coalition Government has introduced a range of measures to help communities who want land to grow fruit and vegetables. Through new community rights, local residents have increased opportunities to protect existing allotments from development and increase provision of green spaces. For example, in Thame, in Oxfordshire, their new neighbourhood plan will create an additional hectare of allotment land. Allotments have also been listed as assets of community value.
	As part of our commitment to supporting local community groups, my Department has also published a best practice guide for community groups wanting to find land to grow fruit and vegetables, as well as an additional guide on establishing community orchards and other spaces for food growing. These can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/space-for-food-growing-a-guide
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-orchards-a-how-to-guide
	In January 2014, my Department published Allotment Disposal Guidance: Safeguards and Alternatives replacing the previous guidance from 2002. The new guidance strengthens allotment protection, as the requirement for waiting lists to be taken into account must now be rigorously applied to all that council’s waiting lists, not just the waiting list for the site to be disposed of. This aims to ensure that poorly maintained sites are not used to justify disposal. Ministers will be closely monitoring to ensure that this new guidance is followed.
	I also refer the right hon. Member to my answer today to him of questions 191956 and 196310, which explains how the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the right hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr Pickles), decisions on allotments since May 2010 have resulted in an increase in usable allotment land.

Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households in England received a weekly general, all-purpose, rubbish collection service in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012 and (d) 2013.

Brandon Lewis: The information is as follows:
	Labour’s legacy
	The last Labour Government had a policy of actively pushing fortnightly bin collections and hitting hard-working families with new bin charges. Their ‘Household Waste Prevention Policy Side Research Programme’ advocated “collection limitations in terms of rubbish bin size or the interval between collections”, and sought to “nationalise this policy among local authorities”. Cutting weekly rubbish collections was not a locally-led initiative, but an explicit Whitehall mission pursued with the zeal of a convert.
	Legislation in 2005 allowed the introduction of bin fines for minor breaches of complex and confusing bin rules; further legislation in 2008 watered down councils’ legal duties to collect rubbish. Guidance issued in 2005 advised town halls that councillors should be bullied to stop them opposing the axing of collections or proposing to restore weekly collections. It also recommended that cutting collections should be done after local elections-to avoid the nuisance of democratic opposition. The Government funded the covert imposition of “bin brother” microchips into families’ bins. The 2009 pre-Budget report made clear that a further wave of bin cuts were being planned. In short, the “Town Hall Talibin” doubled council tax and halved bin collections.
	We disagree. This Government believes that households deserve a frequent and comprehensive rubbish and recycling service in return for the £122 a month in council tax that a typical household pays (Band D), especially given the typical refuse collection service only costs councils £6 to £7 per month to provide.
	What we’ve done
	We have taken a series of steps to help households:
	Issued the first ever Whitehall guidance on weekly bin collections, demolishing the myths that fortnightly bin collections are needed to save money or increase recycling;
	Stopped the Audit Commission inspections which marked down councils who do not adopt fortnightly rubbish collections, and rejected the Audit Commission guidance which advocated fortnightly collections (“Waste Management: The Strategic Challenge and Waste Management Quick Guide”).
	Abolished the Local Area Agreements and National Indicator 191 imposed by Whitehall which created perverse incentives to downgrade waste collection services;
	Scrapped the Whitehall requirement for municipal Annual Efficiency Statements, which allowed a reduction in the frequency of a household rubbish collection service to qualify as a “valid efficiency” and allowed revenue from bin fines to classed as a “cashable efficiency gain”;
	Scrapped the imposition of eco-towns which would have had fortnightly bin collections and/or bin taxes as part of the “eco-standards”;
	Safeguarded weekly collections for 6 million households through the Weekly Collection Support Scheme as well as championing innovation and best practice;
	Supported over 40 innovative reward schemes to back recycling through the Weekly Collection Support Scheme (as pledged in the Coalition Agreement);
	Through the Localism Act, revoked the 2008 legislation that allowed for the imposition of new bin taxes;
	Issued guidance to stop the imposition of illegal ‘backdoor bin charging’ on households bins;
	Stopped funding the ‘Waste Improvement Network’ which told councils to adopt fortnightly collections as best practice;
	Challenged the incorrect interpretation by some bodies that European Union directives require fortnightly collections, and resisted the imposition of bin taxes by the European Union;
	Removing powers of entry and snooping powers from “Binquisition” inspectors and scrapped guidance telling councils to rifle through families’ bins;
	Changing building regulations to tackle ‘bin blight’; and
	Changing the law through the Deregulation Bill to scrap unfair bin fines.
	In short, this has been a fundamentally different approach from the Labour Government: we are working with families to help them go green, but believe in proper, regular and comprehensive collections for taxpaying households.
	The configuration of services is complex. The following table, based on available estimates from WRAP, provide the most detailed information held on the breakdown of refuse and recycling collections of ‘smelly’ rubbish across councils in England.
	
		
			 Weekly collections of smelly rubbish 
			 Councils Weekly Residual + Separate Weekly Food Waste Weekly Residual + Weekly mixed food and garden waste Weekly Residual + fortnightly mixed food and garden waste Weekly Residual and no separate food waste collection Weekly Food Waste + Fortnightly Residual Weekly mixed food and garden waste + Fortnightly Residual 
			 June 2011 33 11 19 189 45 7 
			 November 2011 31 9 20 190 52 10 
			 January 2012 33 8 20 189 54 11 
			 February 2012 33 8 17 182 58 11 
			 August 2012 39 8 21 181 61 12 
			 September 2012 39 8 20 179 62 12 
		
	
	
		
			 Households Weekly Residual + Separate Weekly Food Waste Weekly Residual + Weekly mixed food and garden waste Weekly Residual + fortnightly mixed food and garden waste Weekly collection and no separate food waste collection Weekly Food Waste + Fortnightly Residual Weekly mixed food and garden waste + Fortnightly Residual 
			 June 2011 1,296,296 405,719 718,292 10,480,876 1,750,654 353,001 
			 November 2011 1,079,984 479,151 998,017 9,694,524 2,197,166 542,695 
			 January 2012 1,141,584 441,151 998,017 9,341,759 2,426,531 602,695 
			 February 2012 1,124,040 441,151 861,447 9,064,454 2,571,575 602,695 
			 August 2012 1,378,876 440,812 851,915 8,239,673 2,896,107 747,024 
			 September 2012 1,386,876 440,812 747,915 7,885,321 2,981,513 747,024 
		
	
	
		
			 Fortnightly collections 
			 Councils Fortnightly mixed food and garden waste + Fortnightly Residual Fortnightly residual and no separate food waste collection 
			 June 2011 36 143 
			 November 2011 41 142 
			 January 2012 41 144 
			 February 2012 44 149 
			 August 2012 47 145 
			 September 2012 49 147 
		
	
	
		
			 Households Fortnightly mixed food and garden waste + Fortnightly Residual Fortnightly residual and no separate food waste collection 
			 June 2011 1,668,211 5,879,808 
			 November 2011 1,838,632 6,014,336 
			 January 2012 1,860,532 6,032,245 
			 February 2012 2,034,102 6,145,050 
			 August 2012 2,170,143 6,173,402 
			 September 2012 2,319,143 6,389,348 
		
	
	Some councils may have a combination of the categories in the table and have been counted under each one that they provide.
	This shows that 14 million households in England have some form of weekly collection of smelly rubbish. Had the Government not taken the actions it had, weekly collections would have disappeared in England by 2015. This simple assertion can be illustrated by the extinction of weekly collections in most of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which have devolved Administrations and policies of supporting fortnightly bin collections. Indeed, in Wales, the Labour-led Welsh Government now has a policy of supporting monthly bin collections (Welsh Government, “Municipal Sector Plan Part 1”, March 2011 and Welsh Government, “Cabinet decision, Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development, Additional Funding for Zero Waste Gurnos”, February 2012).
	We have stopped the rot, but there is more to do to support weekly bin collections. Many town hall jobsworths, over-zealous NGOs and vested interests in the waste industry remain blindly obsessed with restricting bin collections as a perverse policy goal in itself, and this is reflected in the figures in the table above. Indeed, even Keep Britain Tidy-which one would think would want regular rubbish collections to keep the streets clean-has been taken over by a NGO (Waste Watch) which campaigns for fortnightly bin collections. Bin collections are not viewed as a public service-but as a policy tool to deliver other arbitrary policy goals.
	More to do
	One option which should be considered is a minimum service standard-for example, the Household Waste Recycling Act 2003 already lays down minimum service requirements for recycling, and indeed, the Public Health Act 1875 introduced a duty on local authorities to collect rubbish; this duty was enhanced by the Public Health Act 1936 obliging them to collect household waste weekly which existed until 1974.
	Moving forward, we are open to representations on how best to support frequent and comprehensive rubbish and recycling service; stand up for taxpayers’ interests from arbitrary state charges and taxes; and protect the local environment, public health and local amenity from the nuisance of stinking rubbish.

Homelessness

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homeless households were accepted as being owed a duty of accommodation by their local authority in each year since 2010; and how many such acceptances were the result of domestic violence.

Kris Hopkins: holding answer 3 April 2014
	I refer the hon. Member to Live Table 773 available on my Department’s website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/286822/Table_773.xlsx
	for data on homelessness acceptances and households with a priority need category of domestic violence.
	Data at local authority level can be found in our “Detailed local authority level homelessness figures” spreadsheets which can be found on my Department’s website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness
	The average numbers since 2010 are far less than under the last Administration, but there is no case for complacency or tolerance of domestic violence. The coalition Government has ring-fenced nearly £40 million of stable funding for specialist local domestic and sexual violence support services until 2015. This funding is used to part-fund 54 multi agency risk assessment conference coordinators and 144 independent domestic violence advisors. We have piloted and rolled out Clare’s Law and Domestic Violence Protection Orders; extended the definition of domestic abuse to cover controlling behaviour and teenage relationships; run two successful campaigns to challenge perceptions of abuse; and placed domestic homicide reviews on a statutory footing to make sure lessons are learned from individual tragedies.
	The dynamics of domestic abuse mean that accommodation can play an important role in the resolution of interpersonal abuse and conflict. It is the foundation to ensuring that adult and child victims are afforded safety and security. This is why this Government has invested £470 million to prevent and tackle all forms of homelessness over the spending review period. The homelessness legislation in England provides one of the strongest safety nets in the world for families with children and vulnerable people who become homeless through no fault of their own.
	There is a range of support for victims of domestic abuse. Some victims will be accommodated in refuges, but Sanctuary schemes and mainstream local authority accommodation may be an option for others, while some victims will pursue independent solutions with help and advice from support schemes as necessary.
	My Department also funds UKRefugesOnline a UK wide database of domestic violence services which supports the national 24-hour free phone domestic violence helpline. It enables those working with victims of domestic violence to identify appropriate services and potential refuge vacancies around the country so that victims can get the help they need as quickly as possible.
	This Government has also made common sense changes to the law to allow local authorities to end the main homelessness duty with offers of accommodation in good-quality private sector accommodation. This helps homeless households move to settled accommodation more quickly and means they spend less time in temporary accommodation. Indeed, we have reduced the average stay in temporary accommodation from 20 months at the beginning of 2010 to 14 months now.

Roads: Lighting

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will place in the Library research he has commissioned on the effect that turning off street lighting and relying on ambient lighting has on levels of crime.

Brandon Lewis: I refer the hon. Member to my answer to the right hon. Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn), on 13 May 2014, Official Report, columns 535-36W.

Social Rented Housing: Repairs and Maintenance

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what information his Department holds on the average satisfaction rating given by tenants relating to maintenance service in public housing in each of the last five years.

Kris Hopkins: Information on tenants’ satisfaction in relation to repairs and maintenance in local authority housing for England is reported in the English Housing Survey. The data collected since 2008-09, which cannot be broken down by local authority area, are as follows:
	
		
			 Percentage 
			  Satisfied Dissatisfied Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied 
			 2008-09 63.7 28.9 7.4 
			 2009-10 65.1 25.3 9.5 
			 2010-11 65.8 25.9 8.3 
			 2011-12 65.6 25.0 9.4 
		
	
	Data for 2012-13 are expected to be published in July 2014.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he plans to answer question 196308, tabled on 10 April 2014 for answer on 28 April 2014.

Stephen Williams: holding answer 12 May 2014
	Question 196308 has been answered today.

INDEPENDENT PARLIAMENTARY STANDARDS AUTHORITY COMMITTEE

Staff

Bob Russell: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, how many staff were employed by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) at its London headquarters on 1 June 2010; and of those employees how many are currently employed by IPSA.

Charles Walker: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. I have asked IPSA to reply.
	Letter from Paul Hayes, dated May 2014
	As Chief Executive of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking about the number of staff employed by IPSA.
	The below data include individuals on permanent and fixed-term contracts and on secondment. Data are not available for temporary staff, who in June 2010 made up the majority of our workforce.
	
		
			  Number 
			 Employed by IPSA on 1 June 2010 20 
			 Of which still employed: 6

CABINET OFFICE

Digital Technology

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps he plans to take to improve digital skills within the Government.

Nick Hurd: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to her on 12 May 2014, Official Report, column 378W.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the electoral registration rates were in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the rest of the UK in each of the three years after the introduction of individual electoral registration in Northern Ireland.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Peter Fullerton, dated May 2014
	On behalf of the Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking the Deputy Prime Minister what the electoral registration rates were in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the rest of the UK in each of the three years after the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration in Northern Ireland (198464).
	Table 1 shows the number of people who were registered to vote in parliamentary elections as a percentage of the estimated resident population aged 18 and over, for Northern Ireland and Great Britain (rest of the UK) in 2002, 2003 and 2004. These are the first three years for which data are available following the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration in Northern Ireland in 2002.
	This percentage is the nearest approximation to the percentage registered to vote that can be provided but is not an electoral registration rate. This is because the estimated resident population is not the same as the population who are eligible to vote. The population eligible to vote in parliamentary elections includes British Citizens or qualifying Commonwealth citizens resident overseas (who are not included in the UK resident population) and excludes foreign citizens from outside the British Commonwealth and Republic of Ireland resident within the UK (who are included in the estimated resident population).
	In addition, figures for the registered electorate may include people who have more than one address may register in more than one place (e.g. students may register at parental and term-time addresses) and electoral registration officers vary in how quickly they remove people from the registers after they have moved away from an area or died. This can potentially affect the comparability of figures across different areas of the UK.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of persons registered to vote as a percentage of resident population aged 18 and over for Northern Ireland and Great Britain, 2002-04 
			 Percentage rate 
			 Area 2002 2003 2004 
			 Northern Ireland 85 84 81 
			 Great Britain 96 94 94 
			 Notes: 1. The rates have been calculated using the number of people registered to vote (excluding attainers aged under 18) in parliamentary elections on 1 December 2002, 1 December 2003 and 1 December 2004 and population estimates of those aged 18 and over in mid-2002, mid-2003 and mid-2004. 2. The UK electoral statistics for 1 December 2002, 2003 and 2004 were published on 27 February 2003, 26 February 2004 and 24 February 2005 respectively. They are available on the ONS website at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pop-estimate/electoral-statistics-for-uk/index.html 3. UK population estimates for 30 June 2002, 2003 and 2004 (revised to be consistent with 2011 Census results) were published on 17 December 2013. They are available on the ONS website at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pop-estimate/population-estimates-for-uk--england-and-wales--scotland-and-northern-ireland/mid-2001-to-mid-2010-revised/index.html Source: Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, and Electoral Office for Northern Ireland

EU External Trade: USA

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office in what areas of policy the governments of the British Overseas Territories have been consulted ahead of negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Kenneth Clarke: It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.

Graduates

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what recent assessment he has made of levels of unemployment amongst recent university graduates in the North East;
	(2)  how many university graduates in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK were (i) employed and (ii) unemployed in each of the last five years;
	(3)  how many university graduates in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK secured (i) graduate level and (ii) non-graduate level employment in each of the last five years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Peter Fullerton, dated May 2014
	On behalf of the Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office for the level of unemployment amongst recent university graduates in the North East (198292); how many university graduates in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK were (i) employed and (ii) unemployed in east of the last five years (198294); and how many university graduates in (a) Jarrow constituency (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK secured (i) graduate level and (ii) non-graduate level employment in each of the last five years. (198296).
	Employment statistics for local areas are calculated from the Annual Population Survey (APS). Unfortunately, due to small sample sizes the level of unemployment amongst recent university graduates in the North East is not available.
	Table 1 shows the number of graduates who were in employment or unemployed for the requested geographies. These estimates are compiled from APS interviews held during the period January 2013 to December 2013, the latest period available, and the 12 month periods ending in December from 2009 to 2011.
	Information is not available on the number of graduates who secured employment in each year. As an alternative table 2 shows the number of graduates in graduate and non-graduate level employment in each of the last 5 years. As no official definition exists of which jobs are graduate or non-graduate we have classified jobs consistent with the report by Elias, P. and K. Purcell (2013) “Classifying graduate occupations for the knowledge society”1.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. A guide to the quality of the estimates is given in the table.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	1 Graduate and non-graduate jobs as defined by Elias, P. and K. Purcell (2013) “Classifying graduate occupations for the knowledge society”.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of graduates employed or unemployed 
			 Thousand 
			  Jarrow South Tyneside North East UK 
			 12 months ending December: Employed Unemployed Employed Unemployed Employed Unemployed Employed Unemployed 
			 2009 11 n/a 17 n/a 295 11 8,862 375 
			 2010 11 n/a 18 n/a 321 12 9,394 371 
			 2011 12 n/a 17 n/a 317 13 9,712 418 
			 2012 10 n/a 18 n/a 332 17 10,307 444 
			 20131 ***11 ****n/a **19 ****n/a *354 ***12 *10,703 *419 
			 n/a = Not available. 1 Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates. See Guide to Quality below. Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5%, we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key: * 0 = CV<5%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered precise ** 5 = CV <10%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 = CV <20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV = 20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes CV = Coefficient of Variation Source: Annual Population Survey. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Number of graduates employed in graduate and non-graduate jobs1 
			 Thousand 
			  Jarrow South Tyneside North East UK 
			 12 months ending December: Graduate Non-graduate Graduate Non-graduate Graduate Non-graduate Graduate Non-graduate 
			 2009 6 4 10 6 190 109 5,850 2,996 
			 2010 6 5 10 8 197 123 6,054 3,325 
		
	
	
		
			 2011 7 5 10 8 202 115 6,337 3,362 
			 2012 6 4 12 6 207 125 6,648 3,639 
			 20132 **7 ***4 **12 ***8 *218 *136 *6,895 *3,787 
			 1 Graduate and non-graduate jobs as defined by Elias, P. and K. Purcell (2013) “Classifying graduate occupations for the knowledge society” 2 Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates. See Guide to Quality below. Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5%, we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key: * 0 = CV<5%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered precise ** 5 = CV <10%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 = CV <20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV = 20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes CV = Coefficient of Variation Source: Annual Population Survey.

HEALTH

Ambulance Services: West Midlands

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the West Midlands Ambulance Service's system's indicators performance in 2012-13; and what assessment he has made of the reasons for changes in that level of performance.

Jane Ellison: A copy of West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (FT) system indicators performance data for 2012-13 has been placed in the Library.
	The Department is aware that West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS FT met all three response time targets for the full year in 2012-13; despite a challenging winter period; a 6.9% rise in emergency calls; and a delay to the launch of the 111 system by NHS Direct in the West Midlands.

Antibiotics

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding his Department has allocated for antibiotic related research in each of the last five years.

Daniel Poulter: The usual practice of the Department's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is not to allocate funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available.
	The NIHR funds a wide range of research relating to infection, antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This includes over £4.9 million invested annually in translational research in infection in its Biomedical Research Centres, in addition to research funded through the Health Technology Assessment programme and Programme Grants for Applied Research.
	Two new NIHR Health Protection Research Units focusing on healthcare associated infections and AMR will receive total funding of £7.4 million over five years. These units are partnerships between universities and Public Health England.
	The NIHR is also running a themed call on AMR research across eight different funding programmes. Successful research bids will be announced between summer 2014 and spring 2015.

Arthritis

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to improve the early intervention in and treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

Norman Lamb: Through the Mandate we have asked NHS England to make measurable progress towards making our health service among the best in Europe at supporting people with ongoing health problems, such as rheumatoid arthritis, to live healthily and independently, with much better control over the care they receive.
	In 2009, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published clinical guidance on the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in adults, which sets out best practice on the diagnosis, care, treatment and support of patients. The guidance makes clear the importance of early diagnosis and is explicit that suspected cases should be referred as an urgent priority for specialist assessment and that early initiation of treatment can prevent irreversible damage to joints.
	In addition to this, information on the diagnosis and treatment of RA can also be accessed via the NICE Clinical Knowledge summaries website at:
	http://cks.nice.org.uk/rheumatoid-arthritis
	More general information for the public can be found on the NHS Choices website at:
	www.nhs.uk/conditions/rheumatoid-arthritis

Breast Cancer

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much funding has been allocated by each of the 12 strategic clinical networks for the running of a breast network site specific group in 2014-15;
	(2)  how much funding is planned to be provided to cancer strategic clinical networks in 2014-15;
	(3)  how much funding was allocated by each of the 12 strategic clinical networks for a breast network site specific group in 2013-14;
	(4)  how much was spent on operating breast network site specific groups in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13.

Jane Ellison: Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs) are funded by NHS England and managed through Area Teams. Their role is to support clinical commissioning groups, Health and Wellbeing Boards and NHS England to make the best decisions about healthcare for the populations they serve by providing advice and leadership at a strategic level. NHS England advises that it does not routinely hold detail on SCN funding in the format requested.
	The Department does not hold information centrally on how much was spent on operating breast network site specific groups prior to the establishment of SCNs on 1 April 2013.

Breast Cancer: Lancashire

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding his Department has made available in Lancashire to improve the early diagnosis of breast cancer.

Jane Ellison: ‘Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer’, published in January 2011, committed over £450 million over the four years up to 2014-15 to achieve earlier diagnosis of cancer. The earlier diagnosis money also included central funding for Be Clear on Cancer campaigns.
	The Department provided £2.5 million in 2010-11 to support 18 local awareness campaigns, including seven intended to raise awareness of breast cancer in women over 70. Lancashire and South Cumbria Cancer Network area was one of the pilot areas. In 2014, we funded a national campaign on breast cancer in women over 70 at a cost of around £2.2 million.

Cancer

John Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full-time equivalent staff were employed to work on cancer policy in his Department in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13 and (d) 2013-14.

Jane Ellison: The number of full-time equivalent staff (FTE) in the Department working on cancer policy for each of the past three years has been presented in the following table:
	
		
			  FTE staff 
			 2010-11 18.3 
			 2011-12 17.1 
			 2012-13 16.7 
			 2013-14 3.5 
		
	
	Other departmental staff work on related issues, such as cancer prevention, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance and the Cancer Drugs Fund. From 1 April 2013, NHS England (rather than the Department) has been responsible for delivering improvements in all cancer services, with Public Health England (PHE) responsible for aspects of cancer screening, immunisation, prevention and symptom awareness.
	To reflect new structures, a number of posts were created in NHS England and PHE, taking on some of the responsibilities of the previous Departmental Cancer Policy team.

Cancer: Drugs

John Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what (a) pharmacological treatments and (b) associated indications the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended for cancer treatment through either single or multiple technology appraisals in (i) 2012, (ii) 2013 and (iii) 2014;
	(2)  if he will publish the final calculated cost per quality adjusted life year of each pharmacological treatment and associated indications which the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended for cancer treatments; and which such treatments and indications have been recommended under the end-of-life criteria in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014;
	(3)  what (a) pharmacological treatments and (b) associated indications the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended against in (i) 2012, (ii) 2013 and (iii) 2014;
	(4)  if he will publish the final calculated cost per quality adjusted life year of each pharmacological treatment and associated indications which the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has not recommended for cancer treatment in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014;
	(5)  if he will publish the determined population size for each pharmacological treatment and associated indications which the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has (a) recommended for cancer treatment and (b) recommended for cancer treatment under the end-of-life criteria in (i) 2012, (ii) 2013 and (iii) 2014.

Norman Lamb: Information on National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal recommendations relating to cancer treatments published in 2012, 2013, and 2014, including the estimated size of the eligible patient population and the applicability of the end-of-life flexibilities, is provided in the following table.
	NICE has advised that it publishes a list on its website that includes information on its technology appraisal decisions on cancer treatments. The list, which is updated monthly, includes each appraisal number, year of publication, the appraisal process used, name of the technology, the disease or condition for which it has been appraised, the recommendation category and any comments. This information can be found at:
	www.nice.org.uk/newsroom/nicestatistics/TADecisions.jsp?domedia=1&mid=CB611E43-19B9-E0B5-D471DEC569F73B12
	NICE does not operate a fixed cost per quality-adjusted life year threshold in its appraisals, but uses a range that allows other factors to be taken into account in deciding whether to recommend a treatment. We are advised that the most likely cost-effectiveness estimate, given as an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, is published on the NICE website and can be found in the ‘Summary of the Appraisal Committee’s key conclusions’ table within section four of each appraisal’s final technology appraisal
	guidance documents. The same section of this document also sets out whether a treatment was considered under end-of-life criteria. Further information can be found at:
	www.nice.org.uk
	
		
			 Technology appraisal and process1 Date Technology Recommendation Approximate number of patients with condition according to marketing authorisation End-of-life criteria assessed? 
			 TA241/MTA 2012 Nilotinib for the treatment of chronic or accelerated phase Philadelphia-chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukaemia in adults whose disease is resistant to treatment with standard-dose imatinib or who have imatinib intolerance Recommended 940 based on people currently receiving treatment Yes, not all criteria met 
			 TA243/MTA 2012 Rituximab in combination with chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of stage III-IV follicular lymphoma Recommended 1,500 per annum No 
			 TA251/MTA 2012 Standard-dose imatinib (400mg/day) for the first-line treatment of chronic phase Philadelphia-chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukaemia Recommended 490 per annum No 
			 TA251/MTA 2012 Nilotinib for the first-line treatment of chronic phase Philadelphia-chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukaemia Recommended 490 per annum No 
			 TA258/STA 2012 Erlotinib for the first-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic EGFR-TK mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer Recommended 430 per annum No 
			 TA259/STA 2012 Abiraterone in combination with prednisolone or prednisone (2nd line) for the treatment of castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer previously treated with one docetaxel-containing regimen Recommended 2,400 per annum Yes—all criteria met 
			 TA268/STA 2012 Ipilimumab for previously treated advanced (unresectable or metastatic) melanoma Recommended 1,000 per annum Yes—all criteria met 
			 TA269/STA 2012 Vemurafenib for locally advanced or metastatic BRAF V600 mutation-positive malignant melanoma Recommended 1,100 per annum Yes—all criteria met 
			 TA306/STA 2014 Pixantrone monotherapy multiply relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma Optimised2 1,600 per annum No 
			 TA310/STA 2014 Afatinib for treating epidermal growth factor receptor mutation-positive locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer Recommended 450 per annum No 
			 TA311/STA 2014 Bortezomib for induction therapy in multiple myeloma before high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation Recommended 910 per annum No 
			 Note: STA = Single Technology Appraisal, MTA = Multiple Technology Appraisal. Recommended subject to specific criteria. Source: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Chiropody: Diabetes

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the quality of foot care provided in primary care to patients with diabetes;
	(2)  who is responsible for auditing compliance with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines relating to the care of patients with diabetes;
	(3)  what guidance his Department has issued to GPs on the assessment and treatment of foot conditions where a patient has diabetes.

Jane Ellison: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent organisation established by Government to provide national guidance and advice to improve health and social care. It has published clinical guidance and quality standards on the treatment of diabetes and its complications. The NICE Diabetes Quality Standard is clear that people with diabetes who are at risk of foot ulceration should receive regular reviews by a foot protection team in accordance with its clinical guidance. The Health and Social Care Act (2012) places a duty on NHS England to have regard to the NICE Quality Standards. Clinical commissioning groups (CCG) should also have regard to them in planning and delivering services, as part of a general duty to secure a continuous improvement in quality.
	As part of the Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF), general practitioners are remunerated for assessing nerve damage and poor blood supply to the feet in people with diabetes on an annual basis. Information is collected annually both through QOF returns and through the National Diabetes Audit (NDA).
	The NDA provides information of local practice against NICE guidelines and can be used by local areas to compare their own performance over time and against others, helping to drive service improvement. The latest published NDA report shows that more than 85% of all those with diabetes in England and Wales, received these checks in 2011-12.
	In July 2014, NHS England will be launching the National Diabetes Footcare Audit. This is a new module of the NDA, and will provide information on the effectiveness and quality of the entire diabetes foot care pathway, including the elements delivered in primary, community and secondary care settings.

College of Emergency Medicine

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he last met the Chair of the College of Emergency Medicine; what subjects were discussed at that meeting; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: The last meeting between the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), and the Chair of the College of Emergency Medicine was held on 2 April 2014. At that meeting, their views on the health system, and emergency medicine in particular, were discussed.

Counselling

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what scrutiny arrangements the Care Quality Commission applies to (a) abortion and (b) other counselling.

Jane Ellison: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is responsible for monitoring the providers of abortion services in England, to make sure they comply with the regulations set out under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (HSCA). If a CQC inspection identifies instances of non-compliance with the HSCA and Regulations then appropriate regulatory action will be taken. The CQC’s Essential Standards of quality and safety require that women undergoing termination of pregnancy know that “they are able to discuss their choices and decisions with a trained counsellor” and “where services are provided to children or people with a learning disability, the counsellor available has relevant experience in discussing termination of pregnancy with them”. For other forms of counselling which are registered activities under the 2008 Act and regulations, CQC takes a similar approach to judgement and action.

Defibrillators: Hampshire

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many publicly accessible defibrillators there are in (a) Hampshire and (b) Southampton; and whether there is a register or map showing where such defibrillators are located.

Jane Ellison: The South Central Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust is responsible for the deployment and use of public access defibrillators in Hampshire and Southampton.
	According to the information collected by the trust, there are at least 263 public access defibrillators across Hampshire, and nine in Southampton.
	A map of the locations of the defibrillators is available on the trust’s website at:
	www.scas.nhs.uk/campaigns/startaheart.ashx
	The trust has also developed a mobile phone application which displays the location of available units to users, which is also available through its website.

Diabetes

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent work his Department has undertaken to raise awareness of the effects of diabetes on people with that condition; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: The NHS Health Check raises awareness of diabetes and its symptoms by assessing and discussing with participants the risk factors for this disease, along with other conditions relevant to the programme. Between April and December 2013, over two million people were offered an NHS Health Check and almost one million people took up the offer.
	Action for Diabetes, published in January 2014, sets out NHS England’s broad vision and direction for supporting improvements in outcomes for people with and at risk of diabetes in the coming years, both as a direct commissioner and by providing support to the commissioning system. The report is available at the following link:
	www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/act-for-diabetes.pdf
	In addition, NHS Improving Quality is working with NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Diabetes to identify potential areas of service improvement. Work focusing on the cardiovascular health of people with diabetic-related foot disease is currently being developed and will be delivered during 2014-15.
	Ministers have participated in a number of parliamentary and external events to raise awareness of diabetes. Diabetes and its effects also feature throughout Living Well for Longer, the Department’s recent publication on preventing premature mortality.

Health Services: Fareham

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent per capita in each general practice area in Fareham constituency in the last year for which information is available.

Norman Lamb: The information is shown in the following table.
	The closest geographical boundary to the question is the area covered by NHS Fareham and Gosport Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).
	
		
			 Fareham and Gosport CCG General Practice spend 2013-14 
			 General Practitioner Practice Name Weighted List Size as at Q4 2013-14 Total spend 2013-14 (£) Spend Per Capita—Weighted (£) 
			 Gosport Health Centre Practice 8,638.37 1,336,261 155 
			 Portchester Practice 8,596.25 795,373 93 
			 The Whiteley Surgery 9,993.36 1,180,482 118 
			 Centre Practice 15,540.52 1,363,476 88 
			 Gudgeheath Lane Surgery 7,804.48 773,741 99 
			 Jubilee Surgery 8,259.15 874,108 106 
			 Stoke Road Medical Centre 8,752.48 905,412 103 
			 Bury Road Surgery 4,337.50 446,570 103 
			 Forton Medical Centre 9,656.23 1,125,220 117 
			 Stubbington Medical Practice 13,184.17 1,240,984 94 
			 Waterside Medical Centre 11,926.55 1,448,573 121 
			 Brune Medical Centre 8,549.08 1,118,871 131 
			 Brockhurst Medical Centre 4,345.77 488,803 112 
			 Bridgemary Medical Centre 8,503.24 936,475 110 
			 Fareham Highlands Practice 15,323.71 1,424,597 93 
			 Westlands Medical Centre 9,802.59 1,075,039 110 
			 Lockswood Surgery 10,786.16 1,106,611 103 
			 Lee on the Solent Health Centre 6,603.07 596,335 90 
			 Brook Lane Surgery 10,787.97 1,209,754 112 
			 Manor Way Surgery 4,566.91 444,296 97 
			 Rowner Health Centre 6,092.44 774,137 127 
			 Totals/Average 192,050.00 20,665,119 108 
			 Note: The average spend per capita figure of 108 is calculated as follows: Total spend 2013-14 (£20,665,119)/Total weighted list size Q4 2013-14 (192,050) = £107.60 Source: NHS England Wessex Area Team

Health Services: Herefordshire

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many new members of (a) staff and (b) nursing staff have been taken on by the NHS in North Herefordshire in the last 12 months.

Daniel Poulter: The information is available neither in the format requested nor specifically for the North Herefordshire area. Wye Valley NHS Trust provides health services across Herefordshire and further afield. 2gether NHS Foundation Trust provides social and mental health care services across Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.
	Information on how many new members of staff and doctors and nursing staff have been taken on by Wye Valley NHS Trust and 2gether NHS Foundation Trust from January 2013 to January 2014 is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Joiners between January 2013 and January 2014 
			 Total NHS staff (excluding Bank, Locums and Trainee Doctors):  
			 Wye Valley NHS Trust 336 
			 2gether NHS Foundation Trust 162 
			 Of which:  
			 Hospital and Community Health Service doctors (excluding Locums and Trainees):  
			 Wye Valley NHS Trust 9 
			 2gether NHS Foundation Trust 8 
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff:  
			 Wye Valley NHS Trust 120 
			 2gether NHS Foundation Trust 37 
			 Notes: 1. Turnover data is based on headcount. 2. Figures are for staff that have joined from outside each NHS trust. Monthly data: 1. As from 21 July 2010, the HSCIC has published experimental, provisional monthly NHS workforce data (experimental tag has been removed from 24 April 2012). 2. As expected with provisional data, some figures may be revised from month to month as issues are uncovered and resolved. 3. The monthly workforce data is not directly comparable with the annual workforce census; it only includes those staff on the Electronic Staff Record i.e. it does not include Primary care staff or Bank staff. It also includes locum doctors (not counted in the annual census). 4. There are also new methods of presenting data (headcount methodology is different and there is now a role count). This information is available from September 2009 onwards at: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/provisionalmonthlyhchsworkforce Data quality: The HSCIC seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality. Where changes impact on figures already published, this is assessed but unless it is significant at national level figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses. Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), provisional monthly NHS workforce data.

Health Services: Recreation Spaces

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the beneficial effects on patient well-being and rate of recovery of hospital beds overlooking green spaces;
	(2)  what studies his Department has assessed on the treatment of depression and anxiety by increasing access to green spaces in urban areas.

Norman Lamb: Health care facilities should provide a therapeutic environment in which the overall design of the building contributes to the process of healing. In 2013, the Department published design guidance for acute and mental health hospital in-patient settings acknowledging that views outside, together with access to sunshine or direct daylight, have been shown to benefit a patient's recovery. This might include landscaped gardens or a courtyard with good-quality natural planting. Copies of the guidance, ‘Health Building Note 04-01: Adult in-patient facilities’ and ‘Health Building Note 03-01: Adult Acute Mental Health Units’, have been placed in the Library.

Hepatitis

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that his Department, NHS England, Public Health England, clinical commissioning groups and local authorities co-ordinate a national approach to improving the prevention, testing, diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C.

Jane Ellison: Public Health England is currently working with NHS England and other partners to reduce the burden of disease from hepatitis C through a suite of activities to improve awareness, prevention, testing and diagnosis, referral into care, and treatment outcomes. The Department is supportive of this work, and is helping to facilitate it.

Hepatitis

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the feasibility of effectively eliminating hepatitis C in the UK in the next 15 to 20 years.

Jane Ellison: Public Health England (PHE) is committed to working with NHS England and other partners to reduce the burden of disease from hepatitis C through a suite of activities to improve awareness, prevention, testing and diagnosis, referral into care, and treatment outcomes
	The feasibility of elimination—that is the reduction to zero of the incidence of disease or infection in England—has not been formally assessed and it is likely to be difficult in the absence of an effective vaccine. However, PHE has recently completed modelling work to assess the potential impact of increased uptake and new therapies on reducing the future burden of hepatitis C-related end stage liver disease in England. This work is being finalised and will be published shortly.

Injuries: Children

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children have been treated in hospital for (a) burns from hair straighteners and (b) injuries from trampolines in each year since 2010.

Jane Ellison: Information on in-patients admitted to hospitals and on patients attending accident and emergency departments in England is collected by the Health and Social Care Information Centre in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database. Patients with injuries due to hair straighteners and trampolines will be included in HES, but the information collected centrally is insufficiently detailed for these cases to be identified as a separate category.

James Cook University Hospital

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effect on demand for accident and emergency services at James Cook university hospital of the proposed closure of minor injuries units at (a) East Cleveland and (b) Guisborough hospitals.

Jane Ellison: No such assessment has been made. This is a local process, not one led from Whitehall. The Government has made clear that any proposed service reconfiguration should be clinically led, not driven from the top down. A public consultation on the proposed changes in South Tees NHS Foundation Trust is currently taking place and is due to close on 31 July. No decisions have been made on the proposed closure of the minor injuries units at East Cleveland and Guisborough hospitals.

Liver Diseases

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the proportion of deaths from (a) liver disease and (b) viral hepatitis which were preventable in the last year for which figures are available.

Jane Ellison: Liver disease registered as the underlying cause of death, accounts for 2% of all deaths in England and 3% if all mentions are counted. Viral liver disease is registered for less than 0.1% of all deaths.
	The main liver viral hepatitides are; A, B, C, D, E. Occasionally, other viruses cause hepatitis. Most people with hepatitis clear the virus after an acute infection. Death from acute viral hepatitis is very rare, a very small number of patients will be referred for liver transplantation. A proportion of deaths from chronic hepatitis B maybe preventable by vaccination and treatment. A proportion of deaths from chronic hepatitis C may be preventable by antiviral therapies. A significant proportion of hepatitis B and C is acquired outside the United Kingdom and therefore it is important to identify people carrying the viruses and offer treatment and vaccination to the close contacts of people with chronic hepatitis as appropriate.

Liver Diseases

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what response his Department plans to make to the findings and recommendations of the All-Party Parliamentary Hepatology Group's recent report into liver disease, Today's Complacency, Tomorrow's Catastrophe, published on 25 March 2014; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of progress in reducing avoidable deaths from liver disease as set out in his call to action to reduce avoidable premature mortality; and what further steps his Department will be taking.

Jane Ellison: Improving outcomes for people with liver disease is a priority and tackling it is reflected in the NHS Outcomes Framework, the Public Health Outcomes Framework and in the Government’s mandate to the national health service.
	Building on last year’s ‘Call to Action’, ‘Living Well for Longer: National Support for Local Action to Reduce Premature Avoidable Mortality’ brings together the national actions which will be taken by the Department and wider Government, NHS England and Public Health England (PHE), to reduce premature mortality in England. It focuses on the five big killers including liver disease and includes a system wide delivery plan for 2014-15. This plan reflects the key actions which will be taken to reduce premature mortality taking into account the commitments that each of these organisations have made in their 2014-15 business plan. Progress against these commitments will be tracked and reported on next year.
	In addition, PHE is meeting with the All-Party Parliamentary Hepatology Group, and other stakeholders, in July to discuss the recommendations of its recent report into liver disease.

Maternity Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much and what proportion of the maternity tariff is spent on insurance.

Daniel Poulter: The size of contributions made to the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts differs between maternity providers and this information is not collected centrally.

Maternity Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of NHS trusts have conducted a review their maternity workforce needs in each year since 2010.

Daniel Poulter: The Department does not have information about the proportion or numbers of reviews that have taken place.
	Health Education England is responsible for maintaining midwifery training numbers at a sufficient level to meet service demand. As part of their work force planning process, all local maternity service providers should work with their local education and training boards to review their work force requirements each year to inform the commissioning of training places and ensure services are tailored to local needs.
	Currently, there are 21,881 qualified full-time equivalent midwives, an increase of 8.7% since May 2010 and a record 6,000 in training.

Medical Records: Databases

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what technology he plans to use to restrict the sharing of NHS patient data extracted under care.data to countries inside the European Economic Area.

Daniel Poulter: The Data Protection Act (1998) allows personal data to be transferred to countries within the European Economic Area (EEA) on the same basis as transferring data within the United Kingdom. Personal data can only be sent to a country or territory outside the EEA if an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of individuals when processing their personal data is ensured.
	Every application for information will be considered by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), in line with the Data Protection Act, taking account of their location if it is outside the UK.
	HSCIC is required to generally publish the information it collects or may derive from a collection, but not in forms which would identify or enable the identification of individual patients or service users. HSCIC’s published data will be openly available via its website.

Medical Records: Databases

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 13 March 2014, Official Report, column 355W, on medical records databases, for what reason NHS England did not finalise the remedial action to be taken for breach of contract before the original planned start date for extra extraction under care.data.

Norman Lamb: In the early stages of the care.data programme, NHS England's focus was on support to general practitioner practices, to help them ensure their patients were appropriately informed about care.data.

NHS: Finance

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy that a proportion of any future underspend within the NHS is allocated to nurses' pay.

Daniel Poulter: The Department has made available in subsequent years the underspends delivered by local national health service organisations, but is not prescriptive on how those organisations use that funding.

NHS: Pensions

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to increase the required contributions to NHS pensions before the introduction of the new pension scheme in 2015.

Daniel Poulter: There are no plans to further raise employer or employee contributions to the NHS Pension Scheme before reformed arrangements are introduced on 1 April 2015.

NHS: Staff

John Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many full-time equivalent staff were employed by each of the 28 cancer networks in England in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13;
	(2)  how many full-time equivalent staff were employed by strategic health authorities in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13; and how many such staff worked specifically in cancer networks;
	(3)  how many full-time equivalent staff were employed by NHS England to work on cancer policy at a national level in each of the last two years.

Jane Ellison: The information requested on staffing levels is not held centrally. Prior to 1 April 2013, staffing levels for both clinical networks, including cancer networks, and strategic health authorities, including staff working specifically in cancer networks, were a matter for local national health service organisations.
	NHS England does not employ people to work on disease-specific policy areas. It is structured according to five domains of the NHS Outcomes Framework. Only National Clinical Directors (NCD) are employed to work on specific conditions. There is one NCD for cancer employed on a 0.4 full-time equivalent basis. It is likely that most directorates will have roles contributing to improved outcomes for people with, and at risk of cancer, but NHS England does not record staff time in a way which would make this quantifiable.

NHS: Translation Services

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of translation and interpreter services used by each individual NHS trust in England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Norman Lamb: This information is not held centrally. National health service organisations have duties under equality legislation which include making sure that their communities can understand information about NHS services and that patients and clinicians can communicate with each other. However, the Department would encourage NHS organisations to be efficient and save money where possible by working together and sharing resources.

Older People: Loneliness

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to tackle the impact of loneliness on the quality of life of elderly people.

Norman Lamb: The Department is working with a number of organisations including the Campaign to End Loneliness and the Royal Voluntary Service to promote ways to tackle loneliness and the Silverline who provide a helpline offering support to older people.
	A measure of social isolation will be published this year as part of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework to raise visibility and to support local authorities to address the issue of social isolation in their local communities. This measure will be shared with the Public Health Outcomes Framework.
	We are reforming social care and the Care Bill places more emphasis on prevention-preventing, reducing and delaying crisis, tackling loneliness and isolation is a key part of prevention.

Permanent Injury Benefit

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have had their permanent injury benefit reduced because of the change from sickness benefit to employment and support allowance.

Norman Lamb: The information requested could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.

Prescription Drugs

Eric Ollerenshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps his Department takes to prevent to over-prescribing of psychotropic drugs in hospitals;
	(2)  which protocols are used in hospitals for withdrawal treatment following long and short-term use of benzodiaepines and Z-drugs.

Norman Lamb: NHS England works with system partners, including training agencies, professional bodies and professional regulators to urge that staff, including those working in hospitals, are appropriately trained, supervised and appraised to monitor practice. In mental health, NHS England is exploring how to modernise the electronic care records system so that it is easier for appropriate prescribing and monitoring to be undertaken.
	The Secretary of State for Health and NHS England would also expect hospitals to take account of relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance.

Prescriptions

Eric Ollerenshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether data on prescriptions dispensed in hospitals is collected centrally.

Norman Lamb: There are various sources of data on medicines in hospitals. The Health and Social Care Information Centre publishes annually the document, ‘Hospital Prescribing: England’, the latest copy of which is available at:
	www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB12651

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 7 May 2014, Official Report, column 244W, on prescriptions: fees and charges, what the cost of administering the exemption arrangements for prescription charges was in each of the last 10 years.

Norman Lamb: The following table provides an estimate of direct and overhead costs for the administration of prescription pre-payment, maternity exemption and medical exemption certificates for the latest eight financial years in England. These costs are the only elements of the prescription charging system that can be separately identified for England. Information prior to 2006-07 is not retained by the NHS Business Services Authority.
	
		
			 NHS prescription charge administrative process from 2006-07 to 2013-14 
			 £000 
			  Pre-payment certificates, maternity exemption certificates, medical exemption certificates 
			 2006-07 3,318 
			 2007-08 3,807 
			 2008-09 3,889 
			 2009-10 4,586 
			 2010-11 4,480 
			 2011-12 4,941 
			 2012-13 4,988 
		
	
	
		
			 2013-14 5,366 
			 Source: NHS Business Services Authority costing model.

Prisoners: Prescription Drugs

Eric Ollerenshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps his Department is taking to prevent over-prescribing or mis-prescribing of psychotropic drugs to prisoners;
	(2)  what data his Department collects on prescriptions dispensed to prisoners;
	(3)  which protocols are used in prisons for withdrawal of treatment following long and short-term use of benzodiazepines and Z-drugs.

Norman Lamb: Information on the number of prisoners who are prescribed a particular medicine or class of medicine is not collected centrally, nor are data held relating to prescription items dispensed in prisons.
	NHS England commissions all pharmacy services in prisons in England. It is responsible for the quality of service and for ensuring that good practice guidelines are followed in relation to the prescribing, safe use and treatment following withdrawal of psychotropic drugs treatments, including benzodiapines and Z-drugs. Where healthcare professionals have concerns about prescribing decisions in relation to psychotropic drug treatment in prisons, they should record these as medication safety incidents and report them to the local medicines management committee for possible further investigation. NHS England commissioners also require healthcare providers to report these incidents in patient safety contract monitoring.
	Prison pharmacy services currently follow guidelines set out in A Pharmacy Service for Prisoners, issued by the Department in 2003. NHS England is currently reviewing this guidance, and updated guidance will be published in due course. A copy of the current guidance has already been placed in the Library.
	Detailed guidance on benzodiazepine detoxification for prisoners is included in Clinical Management of Drug Dependence in the Adult Prison Setting, published by the Department in 2006. A copy has already been placed in the Library. Clinicians are expected to follow this and other relevant guidance such as that published by the Royal College of General Practitioners’ Secure Environments Group on Safer Prescribing in Prisons.

Staff

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many officials in his Department are on the Connecting programme; and how many and what proportion of those officials have spent time working in mental health.

Daniel Poulter: As of 12 May 2014, 242 officials have spent time in health and care organisations as part of the Department’s ‘Connecting to patients and people who use services’ programme. Of these, 68 (28%) have been on placements in mental health trusts or organisations with a mental health focus, including care homes.
	As part of the Connecting programme, departmental officials commonly encounter other environments where mental health issues are prevalent, including the acute sector and social/community care situations.

Transvaginal Mesh Implants

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of healthcare professionals who (a) are aware of and (b) use the databases of the British Society of Urogynaecology and the British Association of Urological Surgeons to record adverse effects in transvaginal mesh implants;
	(2)  what representation he has received from (a) patients, (b) professional bodies, (c) the MHRA and (d) mesh manufacturers on a mandatory adverse effect register for transvaginal mesh implants;
	(3)  what representations he has received from (a) patients, (b) professional bodies, (c) the MHRA and (d) mesh manufacturers on the use of the databases of the British Society of Urogynaecology and British Association of Urological Surgeons to record adverse effects in transvaginal mesh implants;
	(4)  what assessment his Department has made as to the accuracy of the databases of the British Society of Urogynaecology and British Association of Urological Surgeons as indicators of the total number of adverse effects in transvaginal mesh implants;
	(5)  what consideration he has given to making the reporting of adverse effects in transvaginal mesh implants mandatory;
	(6)  what plans his Department has to (a) commission research on, (b) consult on and (c) introduce a standard patient consent form for transvaginal mesh implants;
	(7)  what discussions his Department has had about transvaginal mesh implants with (a) the Scottish Government, (b) NHS Scotland, (c) NHS England and (d) NHS Wales in the last three years.

Norman Lamb: The Department, NHS England and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have been working collaboratively to address the serious concerns that have been raised about transvaginal mesh implants. A working group has been set up to discuss these and will cover a range of issues including better collection and co-ordination of information on patients outcomes including complications, incident reporting and the need for a register. It will also consider how the British Society of Urogynaecology/the British Association of Urological Surgeons databases can assist in providing information on the use of transvaginal mesh implants, patient outcomes and complications and the use of these databases by professionals. The working group will also look at ways of working with devolved Administrations to improve incident reporting to the MHRA and the development of patient consent forms.

Viruses

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  whether his Department has received reports of UK nationals having contracted the MERS virus;
	(2)  what discussions he has had with the World Health Organisation and his counterparts in Saudi Arabia on the risk of MERS virus spreading to (a) the UK and (b) other countries;
	(3)  if his Department will put safety precautions in place for UK nationals returning from Saudi Arabia at risk of having contracted the MERS virus;
	(4)  if he will take steps to ensure the safety of UK nationals at risk of contracting MERS virus whilst travelling to and from Saudi Arabia.

Jane Ellison: Public Health England (PHE) has identified three United Kingdom nationals who have contracted the MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV). These cases occurred in 2013 and were all part of the same cluster. The primary case had travelled to the Middle East and the other two cases were contacts in the UK.
	In the case of an unusual infectious disease incident or outbreak outside of the UK, discussions are held by UK Health Officials primarily from PHE, with officials in European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) to identify the risk of the infection spreading outside of the country of origin. PHE is in close liaison with WHO and ECDC to monitor international developments and re-evaluate risk assessments whenever there is significant new data to review. In the case of MERS-CoV, these have been on-going since the virus first appeared in 2012.
	Risk assessments have been agreed between WHO regions as well as the member states served by ECDC. These are published appropriately and all organisations agree that the risk of contracting MERS-CoV outside of the Middle East is very low. The risk of a foreigner contracting the virus whilst in the Middle East may be slightly higher than within the UK, but is still very low and does not warrant a change in the travel advice that is currently given.
	Information is available to general practitioners and health professionals that describes the condition, how it is transmitted and caught, the signs and symptoms, and what to do should they suspect one of their patients may have MERS. Testing is available seven days a week through the PHE laboratory network. Hospital clinicians have been given guidance on the assessment of possible cases of MERS and infection control procedures to follow for suspected cases.
	Information for UK nationals going to and from the Middle East is available through PHE’s website and The National Travel Health Network and Centre provides health information for both health professionals and travellers. All travellers to the Middle East are advised to practice good general hygiene measures, such as regular hand washing before and after visiting farms, barns or market areas, especially where camels are present. They are also advised to avoid unnecessary contact with camels and avoid raw camel milk/camel products from the Middle East, particularly if they have chronic health conditions, as they may be at a higher risk of MERS-CoV.
	All travellers are advised generally to avoid the consumption of any type of raw milk, raw milk products and any food that may be contaminated with animal secretions unless it has been peeled and cleaned and/or thoroughly cooked.
	Travellers returning from the Middle East with severe respiratory symptoms should seek medical advice and mention their travel history so that appropriate measures and testing can be undertaken. People who are acutely ill with an infectious disease are advised not to travel.
	PHE is also working with the airports to produce information for passengers on MERS-CoV and the practical steps they can take to minimise the risk of getting infected. This will be displayed at arrivals and departures at the airports.

Viruses

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made on the potential effect of MERS virus in the UK.

Jane Ellison: The risk of infection with MERS-Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) to United Kingdom residents in the UK remains very low. The risk assessment carried out by Public Health England (PHE) was last updated on 2 May and still reflects what is considered to be a very low risk for UK citizens. PHE is liaising closely with international agencies such as the World Health Organization and its emergency committee which will be considering the most recent situation.
	PHE remains vigilant and closely monitors developments in the Middle East and in the rest of the world where new cases have emerged, and continues to liaise with international colleagues to assess the situation.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Cayman Islands

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reduction he expects in the Cayman Islands government budget and on the Cayman Islands government provision of funds this year and next to the Cayman Turtle Farm; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Simmonds: The Cayman Islands Government and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office signed in November 2011 the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility. This sets out the agreed principles for credible and sustainable financial management, including limits for public borrowing. The Cayman Islands Government is responsible for decisions on taxation and public spending, including deciding on the allocation of the resources to the turtle farm.

Cayman Islands

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has received the World Society for the Protection of Animals' recent report The Cayman Turtle Farm: A Continued Case for Change.

Mark Simmonds: I have received a copy of the report and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is analysing it in detail. However, it is the delegated responsibility of the Cayman Islands Government to manage its natural resources effectively and appropriately and for them to consider how best to respond to the report.

Nigeria

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent estimate he has made of the number of UK nationals living or working in Nigeria; and whether his Department has issued any updated advice to them since the abduction of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls.

Mark Simmonds: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) estimates that there are approximately 20,000 British nationals living or working in Nigeria.
	We offer advice to those resident in, or travelling to Nigeria, through FCO Travel Advice. This Travel Advice was updated in the week commencing 14 April, around the time of the abduction of the school girls, to ensure that it provided British nationals travelling to, or working in Nigeria, the best possible information and advice on the potential threats and dangers.

Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what response the UK has made to the application of the Marshall Islands to the International Court of Justice in respect of compliance by the UK with Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Hugh Robertson: The UK is currently considering its response to the proceedings instituted by the Marshall Islands in the International Court of Justice on 24 April 2014. The UK is confident of its record in progressing nuclear disarmament in accordance its obligations under the 1968 treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, and will defend its position robustly.

Nuclear Weapons

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what level of representation the UK will have at the humanitarian effects of nuclear weapons war conference being hosted by the Austrian Government in December 2014.

Hugh Robertson: We have not received an invitation from Austria to this conference, and have therefore not yet made a decision on whether the UK will attend. I will update the House when a decision has been made.

Property

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent estimate he has made of the total market value of his Department's properties in each country.

David Lidington: The net book value of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s property (land and buildings) in the UK and overseas as at 31 March 2014 was £2,015 million. This excludes property held by our non-departmental public bodies. Individual valuations per country cannot be provided as this information is commercially sensitive.

TREASURY

Child Benefit: EU Nationals

Mark Reckless: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate by country of residence of the child he has made of the number of migrants residing in the UK who claimed benefits on behalf of children living abroad during 2013.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many non-UK EEA nationals had dependants eligible to receive child benefit where the dependant is (a) in the UK and (b) outside the UK on 1 January 2014; and how much has been paid in such a fashion in each of the last three years;

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many citizens of other EU member states currently living in the UK receive child benefit;
	(2)  how many migrants from EU countries living in the UK receive child benefit.

Nicky Morgan: HMRC are not able to provide the information in the manner requested. HMRC do not record the nationality of the claimant receiving child benefit for children living in another member state.
	Published child benefit statistics provide annual estimates of the number of families and children claiming. The latest available (August 2012) show that there were 7.92 million families, responsible for 13.77 million children and qualifying young people receiving child benefit.
	The main purpose of child benefit is to support families in the UK. Consequently, the rules generally do not provide for them to be paid in respect of children who live abroad.
	Nevertheless, child benefit is a family benefit under EC Regulation 883/2004. This regulation protects the social security rights of nationals of all member states of the European economic area, including the UK, and Switzerland when they exercise their rights of free movement under EU law.
	HMRC holds information on the number of child benefit awards under EC Regulation 883/2004. As at 31 December 2013, there were 20,400 ongoing child benefit awards under the EC regulation in respect of 34.268 children living in another member state.
	This is a fall of 3,682 (15.3%) awards in respect of 5,903 (14.7%) fewer children since 31 December 2012.
	The breakdown by member state is as follows:
	
		
			 Child benefit 
			 Country of residence of children Number of awards Number of children 
			 Austria 23 37 
		
	
	
		
			 Belgium 75 140 
			 Bulgaria 186 245 
			 Croatia 15 15 
			 Cyprus 39 61 
			 Czech Republic 124 203 
			 Denmark 13 23 
			 Estonia 45 65 
			 Finland 12 23 
			 France 789 1,429 
			 Germany 283 495 
			 Greece 44 69 
			 Hungary 136 196 
			 Iceland 15 15 
			 Italy 156 273 
			 Latvia 797 1,091 
			 Liechtenstein 0 0 
			 Lithuania 1,215 1,712 
			 Luxembourg 7 14 
			 Malta 15 22 
			 Norway 30 61 
			 Poland 13,174 22,093 
			 Portugal 202 309 
			 Republic of Ireland 1,231 2,505 
			 Romania 230 392 
			 Slovakia 692 1,232 
			 Slovenia 11 21 
			 Spain 600 1,019 
			 Sweden 49 95 
			 Switzerland 77 150 
			 The Netherlands 142 288 
			    
			 Totals 20,400 34,268 
			 1 We have withheld the number where it is fewer than 5, as there is risk that the information could be attributed to an identifiable person, which would prejudice their right to privacy and would therefore be a breach of Principle 1 of the Data Protection Act. 
		
	
	As announced in the 2014 Budget, to prevent EEA migrants claiming benefits they are not entitled to, the Government will increase compliance checks to establish whether EEA migrants meet the entitlement conditions to receive child benefit.
	Under domestic law, in order to claim child benefit EEA migrants must be present in the UK, ordinarily resident and have a right to reside in the UK and their children must live in the UK.
	The recent changes to migrants’ access to benefits announced by the Government sends a strong message that the UK benefit system is not open to abuse, as well as deterring those who may seek residence in the UK primarily to claim benefits.
	Strengthening compliance checks will help prevent EEA migrants from claiming, and continuing to claim, benefits they are not entitled to. Checks will be applied to both new claims and existing awards.

Ministers' Private Offices

Kevan Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the size, in square metres, of the offices assigned to each of his Department's Ministers is; and how many officials, at what grade, work in the private offices of each of his Department's Ministers.

Andrea Leadsom: I can confirm that Ministers have a total of 256.08 sq m of office space currently assigned to them.
	In total, there are 35 staff working in ministerial offices, compared to 38 members of staff in 2009.
	This is as follows:
	Range B: 6
	Range C: 8
	Range D: 13
	Range E: 5
	Range E2: 2
	SCS:1
	These figures are based on the latest data available for staffing numbers for HMT Treasury as of May 2014.

Money Lenders

Pamela Nash: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many reports the Illegal Money Lending Team in (a) Scotland, (b) Wales, (c) England, (d) Northern Ireland and (e) the UK received in each of the last four years for which figures are available.

Andrea Leadsom: The Government has ensured that Illegal Money Lending Teams within Local Authority Trading Standards have a clear statutory remit and powers to tackle illegal lenders. This is complemented by a new role for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as part of the transfer of consumer credit regulation to the FCA on 1 April 2014.
	The Illegal Money Lending Teams have powers to prosecute those who are found to be lending illegally and causing harm to some of the most vulnerable consumers. The FCA has equivalent powers.
	Illegal Money Lending Teams are also focused on raising consumer awareness of illegal money lenders and encourage members of the public to report illegal money lenders through the ‘Stop Loan Sharks’ campaign.
	Both the FCA and Illegal Money Lending Teams have a strong track record of taking enforcement action against illegal money lenders.
	The Scotland Illegal Money Lending Team records actionable intelligence and does not hold data on the total number of reports. The number of actionable reports for the last four years are:
	
		
			  Number 
			 2010-11 28 
			 2011-12 96 
			 2012-13 117 
			 2013-14 65 
		
	
	The Wales Illegal Money Lending Team’s total number of reports as currently available are:
	
		
			  Number 
			 2011-12 38 
			 2012-13 32 
			 2013-14 29 
		
	
	The England Illegal Money Lending Team’s total number of reports as currently available are:
	
		
			  Number 
			 2011-12 460 
			 2012-13 657 
			 2013-14 592 
		
	
	In Northern Ireland, Trading Standards is a devolved matter and therefore, the Government does not sponsor Illegal Money Lending Teams there.

Pay

Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many and what proportion of (a) directly employed staff and (b) contracted staff in HM Revenue and Customs are paid less than the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation;
	(2)  how many and what proportion of staff employed by (a) HM Revenue and Customs and (b) via his Department's sub-contractors are paid an hourly rate that is lower than the living wage in each site of employment in each parliamentary constituency.

David Gauke: 99.81% of HMRC’s staff are paid above the living wage.
	HM Treasury fully complies with EU procurement directives and awards contracts on the basis of the best value for money for the taxpayer. Nevertheless, we have encouraged contractors to commit to paying a living wage and expect all employers to pay at least the national minimum wage.
	The Government supports businesses that choose to pay the Living Wage however the Government’s main policy on wages is the National Minimum Wage, which has continued to protect the relative wages of the low paid. This is independently set by the Low Pay Commission at a level that maximises their wages without reducing employment prospect. It is for workers and employers to decide the level of wages above the minimum wage based on current circumstances. This includes the Government as a procurer and an employer. Over 95%, around 20 million employees earn above the minimum wage and the majority of public sector workers currently earn above the Living Wage.
	Under the Data Protection Act we are unable to provide a full table breaking down the proportion of staff in each constituency being paid below the Living Wage.

Pensions: Teachers

Pat McFadden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish estimates produced by the Government Actuary's Department for his Department of any additional monies received from extra contributions to the Teachers' Pension Scheme before 19 March 2014.

Danny Alexander: The Government Actuary's Department did not produce estimates for HM Treasury of additional monies received from extra contributions to the Teachers' Pension scheme before 19 March 2014.

Premium Bonds: Scotland

Richard Burden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what contingency plans are in place for the future administration of Premium Bonds currently administered in Scotland and held by residents in England, Northern Ireland and Wales in the event of Scottish independence; and if he will make a statement.

Danny Alexander: National Savings and Investments (NS&I) is a UK institution, operating from a number of sites within the UK and abroad.
	The powers governing NS&I products come from UK primary and secondary legislation. Only individuals with a UK bank account are eligible to buy NS&I products. In the event of independence, the current rules would prohibit individuals with only a Scottish bank account from buying NS&I products.
	Any changes to these rules would depend on negotiations between the UK and Scottish Governments in the event of independence. Both Governments have said that there can be no pre-negotiations on what the terms of independence might be before the referendum takes place.
	The UK Government believes that Scotland is better off as part of the UK, and the UK is better off with Scotland in it.

Private Finance Initiative

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to increase value for money for the Exchequer from private finance initiative arrangements.

Danny Alexander: PF2 is one of a range of procurement routes available to projects. Value for money is the primary driver when choosing a procurement route.
	PF2 offers improved value for money for the public sector and the taxpayer compared to the private finance initiative. An improved procurement process, public sector equity co-investment, more efficient risk allocation and greater flexibility of service provision has improved the cost-effectiveness of PF2 relative to the private finance initiative.
	The Government has taken significant steps to improve the cost-effectiveness of existing PFI contracts, including delivery of £1.5 billion of savings, which has been assured by the National Audit Office, and identifying potential further savings of more than £1 billion.

Regeneration: Brent

Sarah Teather: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had on the regeneration of the Brent Cross area with (a) Brent Council and (b) resident groups in Brent.

Danny Alexander: The Government has committed to working with the London borough of Barnet to look at their proposals for the regeneration of Brent Cross. It is a matter for Barnet council to discuss their plans with relevant stakeholders including Brent council.

Tax Evasion

Mark Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to the public purse was of tax evasion cases brought on behalf of HM Revenue and Customs in each of the last three years for which figures are available; how many such cases resulted in a guilty verdict; and how much has been recovered following successful prosecution of those cases.

David Gauke: HMRC does not calculate the cost of individual tax evasion cases. The majority of such cases are dealt with using cost-effective civil settlement procedures. HMRC also has the power to investigate criminally those that seek to defraud the Exchequer, and it publishes its policy around when it will use this power.
	HMRC is not a prosecuting authority. Where cases do proceed to the criminal courts the prosecution is carried out by the relevant independent prosecuting authority. This is the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in England and Wales, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) in Scotland, and the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPSNI).
	Details of the total number of individuals convicted for tax offences are set out in the following table. These include offences in relation to both direct and indirect tax, excise duties and tax credits.
	
		
			  Convictions for tax offences 
			 2010-11 280 
			 2011-12 401 
			 2012-13 522 
			 2013-14 682 
		
	
	HMRC does not calculate how much has been recovered following successful prosecution. Individual cases are passed back for recovery action of tax evaded to compliance and debt teams. Additionally, fines, compensation orders and confiscation orders may in relevant circumstances be imposed by the courts. No central record is kept of all monies subsequently recovered in relation to specific convictions and therefore this information would be available only through manual intervention at disproportionate cost.

VAT: Electronic Publishing

Tom Harris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effect of VAT at 20 per cent on eBooks on reading and literacy levels of young and teenage readers;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effect of standard rate VAT on eBooks on (a) the UK's creative industries, (b) progress towards achieving the Government's aim of making the UK a hub for digital innovation and (c) benefits to the education sector from digital technology;
	(3)  what steps he is taking to ensure that VAT on eBooks at a standard rate will not damage UK authors and publishers and the UK book sector;
	(4)  on what grounds he decided to introduce VAT at 20 per cent on eBooks while maintaining zero rate VAT on printed books;
	(5)  what assessment he has made of the effect on publishers, authors and consumers of the proposed changes to VAT on eBooks in 2015;
	(6)  what assessment he has made of the effect on the UK eBook market of the imposition of VAT at 20 per cent.

David Gauke: The UK applies the standard rate of VAT to digital books and the zero rate of VAT to physical books.
	The application of VAT in the EU, including rates and flexibilities afforded to member states in this regard, is governed by EU law. The sale of a digital book is classified as an electronic service and attracts the standard rate of VAT under EU law.
	Legal advice obtained by the Government indicates there is no scope to change the VAT treatment of the sale of digital book and similar products under EU law. As such, no assessments have been made of the type referred to by the hon. Member.
	From 1 January 2015, VAT legislation across the EU will change to tax the supply of broadcasting, telecoms and electronically supplied services (including e-books) at the place of consumption.
	HMRC has published information on the VAT changes which includes a summary of the impacts:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/264626/7._VAT_-_place_of_supply_and_the_introduction_of_the_Mini_One-Stop_Shop.pdf

Welfare Tax Credits

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many single people have had sanctions placed on their tax credits on the ground that someone else was also resident at the property in the last three years; and how many such sanctions have subsequently been overturned.

Nicky Morgan: HMRC does not have data on undeclared partner interventions before 2011-12.
	During the 2011-12 tax year HMRC carried out compliance interventions on 30,869 single person claims with a suspected undeclared partner and amended 15,705 awards as a result.
	During the 2012-13 tax year HMRC carried out compliance interventions on 105,521 single person claims with a suspected undeclared partner and amended 43,092 awards as a result.
	During the 2013-14 tax year HMRC carried out compliance interventions on 140,923 single person claims with a suspected undeclared partner and amended 28,516 awards as a result.
	HMRC do not hold the requested data for the number of decisions subsequently overturned on appeal.
	The change in level of award amendments over the three years reflects the fact that good progress was made in identifying cases in 2011 and 2012.

JUSTICE

Advisory Bodies

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the annual cost is of the (a) administration of advisory committees, (b) HM Courts and Tribunals Service staff servicing such committees and (c) training and recruiting members of such committees.

Shailesh Vara: A local advisory committee is responsible for the recruitment of magistrates in a particular area, and for advising on issues relating to the conduct of magistrates following their appointment. The work of the committee is supported by HMCTS staff but the specific costs of administration for the committee and the costs of HMCTS staff supporting its work are not available as these are not recorded separately.
	The cost of training advisory committee members in the financial year 2013-14 was £17,401.45.

Convictions

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many people have been convicted of an offence contrary to section 54 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 in each of the last four years;
	(2)  how many people have been convicted of an offence contrary to section 1 or section 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, where the offence was not committed against a child under the age of 16 years, in each of the last four years;
	(3)  how many people have been convicted of an offence contrary to sections 30 to 41 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, where the offence was committed against an adult, in each of the last four years;
	(4)  how many people have been convicted of an offence contrary to section 3 of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 in each of the last four years;
	(5)  how many people have been convicted of an offence contrary to section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in each of the last four years;
	(6)  how many people have been convicted of an offence contrary to section 1 of the Indecency with Children Act 1960 in each of the last four years;
	(7)  how many people have been convicted of an offence contrary to section 5 of the Sexual Offences Act 1967 in each of the last four years;
	(8)  how many people have been convicted of an offence contrary to sections 3 to 4, 9 to 12, 14 to 20, 25 to 26, 47 to 50, 52 to 53, 57 to 59, 61 and sections 66 to 67 where the offence was committed against a child under the age of 16 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in each of the last four years.

Jeremy Wright: The number of offenders found guilty at all courts of the offences specified in the Sexual Offences Act 2003, the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000, the Indecency with Children Act 1960, the Sexual Offences Act 1967 and the Criminal Law Act 1977, in England and Wales, from 2008 to 2012 is provided in the tables.
	Please note that offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 sections 9 to 12, 14 to 19, 25 to 26, 47 to 50 provide data where the victim can be specifically identified as a child, whereas offences under sections 3, 4, 52 to 53, 57 to 59, 61 and 66 to 67, are not specific to the age of the victim.
	The tables do not include data for offences under section 5 of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, or under section 3 of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000. These offences, along with section 54 of the Criminal Law Act 1977, were repealed by the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and there have been no convictions in the last four years.
	The number of offenders found guilty of offences under section 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 was provided in answer to PQ 193582 and can be found at 1 April 2014, Official Report,column 638W. It is not possible to separate out the age of the victims of offences under section 2.
	Similarly, it is not possible to separate out the age of the victim of offences committed under sections 30—41 Sexual Offences Act 2003 from centrally held data. For data on offences under this legislation as a whole, I refer the hon. lady to the answer provided to PQ 193810, which can be found at 7 April 2014, Official Report,column 136W.
	Section 20 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 deals with offences in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Statistics for these offences in Scotland are a matter for the Scottish Government, with those in Northern Ireland being a matter for the Department of Justice Northern Ireland
	Court proceedings data for England and Wales for 2013 are planned for publication in May 2014.
	The Government takes very seriously all matters relating to the sexual abuse of children and adults. Our laws in these areas are rightly robust and clear. The 2003 Act, which came into effect in May 2004, significantly modernised and strengthened the laws on sexual offences in England and Wales.
	
		
			 Offenders found guilty at all courts for selected offences, England and Wales, 2008-121,2 
			 Statute Offence 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Indecency with Children Act 1960, S.1 Gross indecency with child (male/female) under 16 51 81 62 84 
			 Criminal Law Act 1977, S.543 Inciting girl under 16 to commit incest 0 0 0 0 
			 1 The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 3 This offence was repealed under schedule 7 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice 
		
	
	
		
			 Statute Offence Outcome 20085 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Indecency with Children Act 1960, S.1 Gross indecency with child (boy/female) under 16 Proceeded against 45 7 19 21 33 
			   Found guilty 47 51 81 62 84 
			   Conviction ratio6 (percentage) 104 729 426 295 255 
			   Sentenced 49 55 81 63 84 
			   Immediate custody 38 43 60 41 61 
			   Custody rate7 (percentage) 78 78 74 65 73 
			         
			 Criminal Law Act 1977, S.548 Inciting girl under 16 to commit incest Proceeded against 0 0 0 0 0 
			   Found guilty 0 0 0 0 0 
			   Conviction ratio6 (percentage) 0 0 0 0 0 
			   Sentenced 0 0 0 0 0 
			   Immediate custody 0 0 0 0 0 
			   Custody rate7 (percentage) 0 0 0 0 0 
			 1 The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 3 The number of defendants found guilty in a particular year may exceed the number proceeded against as the defendants were found guilty of a different offence to that for which they were originally proceeded against, or the proceedings in the magistrates' court took place in an earlier year and the defendants were found guilty at the Crown Court in the following year. 4 The number of offenders sentenced can differ from those found guilty as it may be the case that a defendant found guilty in a particular year, and committed for sentence at the Crown Court, may be sentenced in the following year. 5 Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008. 6 Conviction ratio is calculated as the number of convictions as a proportion of the number of proceedings. 7 The proportion of offenders sentenced who are sentenced to immediate custody. 8 This offence was repealed under schedule 7 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice 
		
	
	
		
			 Offenders found guilty at all courts for offences under Section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 20031, England and Wales, 2008 to 20122,3 
			  20084 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Number 1,147 1,160 1,367 1,438 1,323 
			 1 Section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 describes sexual assault on males and females over the age of 13. 2 The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 3 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 4 Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice 
		
	
	
		
			 Offenders found guilty of offences under selected sections of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, England and Wales, 2008 to 20121,2,3 
			 Section of Act 20083 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 S44 19 14 6 14 19 
			 S95 641 678 760 683 673 
			 S106 99 108 144 179 176 
			 S117 63 63 56 64 74 
			 S128 21 18 16 16 7 
			 S149 15 17 32 24 32 
			 S1510 48 49 69 57 71 
			 S1611 13 12 10 8 22 
			 S1712 2 8 7 4 4 
			 S1813 1 0 0 3 0 
			 S1914 2 3 0 0 0 
			 S2515 87 85 93 109 93 
			 S2616 10 9 6 6 4 
			 S4717 3 5 3 5 16 
			 S4818 7 8 13 10 13 
			 S4919 1 1 0 0 3 
			 S5020 2 1 2 2 2 
			 S5221 6 6 2 7 3 
			 S5322 31 22 17 11 18 
			 S5723 11 15 3 3 7 
			 S5824 13 8 7 5 3 
			 S5925 0 0 0 0 0 
			 S6126 0 0 1 1 0 
			 S6627 590 539 627 590 592 
			 S6728 82 95 99 114 140 
		
	
	
		
			 1 The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 3 Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates' court for April, July and August 2008. 4 Offences of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent . 5 Offences of sexual activity with a child 6 Offences of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. 7 Offences of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child. 8 Offences of causing a child to watch a sexual act. 9 Offences of arranging or facilitating commission of a child sex offence. 10 Offences of meeting a child following sexual grooming etc. 11 Offences of abuse of a position of trust: sexual activity with a child. 12 Offences of abuse of a position of trust: causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. 13 Offences of abuse of a position of trust: engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child. 14 Offences of abuse of a position of trust: causing a child to watch a sexual act. 15 Offences of sexual activity with a child family member. 16 Offences of inciting a child family member to engage in sexual activity. 17 Offences of paying for sexual services of a child. 18 Offences of causing or inciting child prostitution and pornography. 19 Offences of controlling a child prostitute or a child involved in pornography. 20 Offences of arranging or facilitating child prostitution or pornography. 21 Offences of causing or inciting prostitution for gain. 22 Offences of controlling prostitution for gain. 23 Offences of trafficking into the UK for sexual exploitation. 24 Offences of trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation. 25 Offences of trafficking out of the UK for sexual exploitation. 26 Offences of administering a substance with intent. 27 Offences of exposure. 28 Offences of voyeurism. Note: Section 4 and Sections 52 to 67 do not separately identify if the victim is a child. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice 
		
	
	
		
			 Offenders found guilty at all courts of offences under section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 20031, England and Wales, 2008 to 20122,3 
			  20084 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Number 448 485 508 511 558 
			 1 S1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 includes rape of a male or female aged 16 or over and attempted rape of male or female aged 16 or over. 2 The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 3 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 4 Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates' court for April, July and August 2008. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice

Coroners: Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department has spent in each of the last four years on counsel fees related to inquests into the deaths of those in custody.

Shailesh Vara: The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is able to identify fees paid to counsel for inquest cases funded under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (“LASPO”) Act 2012 from April 2013 onwards. For the financial year 2013-14, the total value of counsel fees paid relating to inquests into the deaths of those in custody under the LASPO Act totalled £10,574.40.
	This figure represents only those cases under the LASPO Act where payment has been made during 2013-14. Very few inquests that have been funded under the LASPO Act have been billed and paid in that period, as many are ongoing. Cases typically take over a year from approval of funding to payment of the final bill.
	The total figure of £10,574.40 does not include information recorded in the LAA’s new costs management system, upon which a small pilot group of providers are currently processing their claims. The volume of claims being processed through this system represents around 1% of all claims.
	The Legal Aid Agency does not hold the information requested centrally for cases funded under the Access to Justice Act 1999 (i.e. cases originally submitted prior to April 2013). Under the Access to Justice Act, ad hoc payments were made aggregating fees for the instructed solicitors and counsel on the case, and it is not possible to disaggregate the costs without checking each individual file.

Courts: Translation Services

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost was of translation and interpreter services used by (a) the courts system, (b) Crown courts and (c) magistrates courts in (i) Bury St Edmunds, (ii) Suffolk, (iii) the East of England and (iv) England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Shailesh Vara: To provide you with the information requested on overall spend for the last five years in (a) the courts system, (b) Crown courts and (c) magistrates courts in (i) Bury St Edmunds, (ii) Suffolk, (iii) the East of England and (iv) England and Wales, would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold.
	The Department does not hold centrally all of the information that has been requested. In order to provide the information we would be required to obtain a number of large reports from individual locations. The relevant data must then be manually extracted and linked to a timesheet and collated.

Criminal Injuries Compensation

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many applications for compensation under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme took over (a) six months and (b) 12 months before an initial decision was reached in each of the last five years.

Damian Green: The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) publishes this information in their annual reports, which can be found at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=criminal-injuries-comensation-authority&publication_type=corporate-reports
	CICA aims to make compensation payments as quickly as possible. However it is vital these cases are properly investigated and claimants are able to have a full assessment of their needs to ensure they receive the compensation they deserve. This can often mean looking at the longer term implications before making a final decision. As CICA has made clear in its recent annual reports, the organisation is focusing on resolving the claims that have been waiting the longest. These are typically from people whose injuries have had a larger impact on their life.

Employment Tribunals Service

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much has been paid to Jadu Ltd for its work on the employment tribunal fees and remission database to date.

Shailesh Vara: Jadu is a good example of how small businesses in the private sector can help transform our justice system, driving innovation and better value for hardworking taxpayers—and it's something I want to see much more of.
	By unlocking the massive potential of small firms we can improve efficiency in the criminal justice system and provide a boost for the recovering British economy.
	Spend with Jadu (for ET Fee project) is £1,782,411.51 up to 31 March 2014.

Employment Tribunals Service

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice in what proportion of cases costs have been awarded to an employer following an unsuccessful claim being brought against them at each stage of the proceedings at an employment tribunal in each of the last five years.

Shailesh Vara: The Ministry of Justice publishes Official Statistics, annually, on costs awards made in employment tribunal claims. It also reports on the numbers of cases disposed of by employment tribunals. Data on costs awards are at table E12, and data on disposals of complaints are available at table E2 which shows distribution of disposed complaints by type and by jurisdiction in the latest release, available here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tribunal-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2013

Employment Tribunals Service

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what the highest compensation payment ordered in employment tribunal cases relating to discrimination on the grounds of (a) sex, (b) disability, (c) religion, (d) sexual orientation, (e) age and (f) race was in each of the last five years; and if he will list the nature of the complaint upheld in each case;
	(2)  what the average compensation payment ordered in employment tribunal cases relating to discrimination on the grounds of race was, by ethnicity of complainant, in each of the last five years;
	(3)  what the average compensation payment ordered in employment tribunal cases relating to discrimination on the grounds of religion was by the religious belief of the complainant in each of the last five years.

Shailesh Vara: I am answering these questions together.
	Data on highest compensation awards for discrimination jurisdictions for the last five years are set out in Tables E6 to E10 of the latest Official Statistics release published by the Ministry of Justice, which can be accessed here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tribunal-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2013
	Data on average compensation awards in race discrimination and religious discrimination claims are set out in Tables E6 and E9 of that publication, respectively.
	Information on the nature of complaints upheld, and the type of race or religion relevant to individual claims, is not recorded centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost following a manual trawl of all relevant tribunal files. The records retention and disposal schedule applicable to such tribunal files also means that information covering each of the last five years would not be held.

Employment Tribunals Service

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average compensation payment to people of each gender was ordered in employment tribunal cases relating to claims of discrimination on the grounds of sex in each of the last five years.

Shailesh Vara: Average compensation awards in sex discrimination employment tribunal claims are shown in Table E7 of the latest Official Statistics release published by the Ministry of Justice, which can be accessed here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tribunal-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2013
	The table provides data on the average compensation awarded in cases relating to sex discrimination broken down by gender.
	
		
			 Table 1-Average compensation awarded in cases relating to sex discrimination by gender 
			  Male Female 
			 2012-13 8,855 11,989 
			 2011-12 6,371 10,289 
			 2010-11 16,487 13,207 
			 2009-10 14,393 17,528 
			 2008-09 8,586 11,176 
			 Notes: 1. This data has been taken from a live case management system so may differ from previously published Official Statistics. 2. This data has been extracted specifically to answer this question and are not subject to the same level of checking as Official Statistics.

Harassment: Northumberland

Ronnie Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people in Northumberland received prison sentences for harassment or stalking in the last two years.

Jeremy Wright: A comprehensive framework of civil remedies and criminal offences is available to deal with stalking and harassment. This framework was strengthened by this Government by amendments to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 made by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, which introduced new stalking offences. These offences are designed to address specific stalking behaviour as opposed to harassment more generally. The new offence under section 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 covers a course of conduct which causes serious alarm or distress which has a substantial adverse effect on the day-to-day activities of the victim. This recognises the overall emotional and psychological harm that stalking may cause to victims, even where there is no explicit fear of violence. The maximum penalty for the section 2A offence is six months’ imprisonment and for the section 4A offence the maximum penalty is five years’ imprisonment.
	The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants sentenced for criminal offences by Police Force Area in England and Wales. The number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody for offences related to harassment and stalking (relating solely to racially or religiously aggravated stalking with or without fear of violence under section 32 (1) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998) in the Northumbria police force area from 2008 to 2012 can be viewed in the table. The Northumbria police force area covers Newcastle, Gateshead, South Tyneside, North Tyneside, Sunderland and Northumberland. It has not been possible to separately identify those offenders in the county of Northumberland.
	There were new triable-either-way offences for stalking introduced by Sections 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, as inserted by section 111 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, which commenced on 25 November 2012. Between this point and the end of December 2012, there were no defendants proceeded against in England and Wales under this.

High Down Prison

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many assaults against prison staff there have been in HM Prison High Down in each month since September 2013;
	(2)  how many acts of prisoner on prisoner violence there have been in HM Prison High Down in each month since September 2013.

Jeremy Wright: The number of assaults on staff and prisoner on prisoner assaults at HMP High Down between September and December 2013 is shown in the following table. The monthly figures between September and December 2013 are broadly in line with the average number of assaults at HMP High Down over the last five years. Assault statistics by establishment are published annually in April with the latest statistics published covering up to 2013.
	There are many factors that can drive changes in the number of assaults at individual establishments from one month to the next, including changes in admissions rates and composition of the prison population. Short-term monthly figures do not give a good indication of trends, and a view over a long time period should be taken when considering trends.
	
		
			 Number of assaults, HMP High Down, September to December 2013 
			  September October November December 
			 Assaults on staff 2 3 3 5 
		
	
	
		
			 Prisoner on prisoner assaults (including fights) 19 11 12 8

High Down Prison

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when HM Prison High Down has had to (a) close wings, (b) close workshops and (c) restrict family visits due to staff shortages since September 2013.

Jeremy Wright: The information regarding when HM Prison Highdown has had to (a) close wings due to staffing shortages is not recorded. The occasions that workshops have closed since September 2013 (b)are listed as follows. Family visits (c) have not been restricted due to staffing shortages during this period.
	There are appropriate levels of staffing at the prison at all times and prisoners who engage in work and education are out of the cells for between eight and 10 hours a day. For those that do not engage, they are still out of their cell for a minimum of four hours a day. In the rare occurrence that a wing should need to close, prisoners still spend at least four hours out of their cells.
	(b) HMP Prison Highdown has had to close workshops on the following occasions since September 2013:
	October 2013
	14th and 22nd
	November 2013
	1st (workshop six only)
	20th
	December 2013
	9th (workshop six only)
	16th (am)
	January 2014
	6th
	16th (pm, workshops five and six)
	20th (workshops four, five and six)
	21st
	29th
	31st (am)
	February 2014
	18th (workshop five and six)
	March 2014
	No closures
	April 2013
	19th (am)

High Down Prison

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when HM Prison High Down has been (a) a recipient of and (b) a contributor to the detached duty programme in each month since September 2013.

Jeremy Wright: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to written parliamentary questions 194628 and 194740. The previous answer provided information on every establishment that had received or contributed staff on detached duty until the latest available date of 31 December 2013.

Legal Profession

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what public funds were spent on the consultation process and publication of the Government Response to Call for Evidence on the Legal Services Regulatory Framework.

Shailesh Vara: The costs incurred by the Ministry of Justice in publishing the Call for Evidence on the Legal Services Regulatory Framework and the Government Response primarily consisted of MOJ staff resources. These costs cannot be quantified as they formed part of the normal day to day work of the Department.
	The document was made available on-line and so no additional printing costs were incurred. There may be limited additional costs for translation of the Government Response into Welsh but these are yet to be confirmed.

Life Imprisonment

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many offenders have been released from one life sentence before being given another life sentence in each of the last 30 years; and in each such case (a) how long the offender spent in prison for the earlier life sentence, (b) how long the offender had been ordered to serve as a minimum period for the latest life sentence, (c) on what dates each life sentence was given, (d) what the offences were for which the offender received each life sentence and (e) what all the offences committed by that offender prior to the latest life sentence were;
	(2)  how many people have been given more than one life sentence on separate sentencing occasions in the last 30 years; and for what offences each person received each such life sentence.

Jeremy Wright: A life sentence is mandatory for murder and discretionary life sentences are available for other very serious offences. This Government has introduced an automatic life sentence for a second very serious violent or sexual offence.
	Under a life sentence, the court determines the minimum period to be served in prison for the purposes of punishment and deterrence. Once that period has been served it is for the Parole Board to determine if and when the offender may be released from prison on life licence and subject to recall for the rest of their life.
	Table 1, which will be placed in the Library, shows the number of offenders who have been sentenced to life in the 12 months ending September 2013 who previously had one or more previous life sentence on a separate sentencing occasion within the last 30 years, in England and Wales. The table also shows details of their latest and previous offences for which they received a life sentence.
	Reoffending rates for life sentenced prisoners are very low. A small number of life sentence prisoners commit offences in prison which result in a second life sentence. Some life sentence prisoners can also receive a second life sentence on conviction for offences committed prior to being imprisoned (eg a previous murder or rape).
	The figures provided have been drawn from an extract of the Police National Computer (PNC) data held by the Department. The PNC holds details of all convictions and cautions given for recordable offences committed in England and Wales. In addition, as with any large scale recording system the PNC is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
	Detailed information on the length of time served by individual life sentence prisoners, and offence information is not readily available, so I will write to my hon. Friend.

Magistrates

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many magistrates sat more than 70 half days in the last year.

Shailesh Vara: The latest records for the number of magistrates that sat for more than 70 half days are for 2012-13. 759 magistrates sat for more than 70 half days in that year. It may also assist if I explain that 244 of those magistrates sat on panels, such as youth, family and fine enforcement.

Magistrates

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many magistrates were recruited in each of the last three years.

Shailesh Vara: Magistrates are recruited locally according to the business needs of the magistrates courts. The number of magistrates recruited in each of the last three financial years is shown as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
			 2011-12 442 
			 2012-13 414 
			 2013-14 162 
		
	
	The downturn in recruitment of new magistrates is a natural consequence of falling workloads in the magistrates courts, due to factors such as falling crime. The fall in overall numbers is a consequence of the downturn in recruitment combined with the relatively steady levels of retirements and resignations.

Members: Correspondence

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to answer question number 191341, submitted by the hon. Member for Hyndburn on 10 March 2014 for Answer on 13 March 2014.

Jeremy Wright: It has not been possible to obtain the information required to respond to question 191341 from the hon. Member. I will write to the hon. Member shortly. I apologise for the delay in responding to these questions.

Northumberland Prison

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many full-time equivalent staff of each grade were employed at HM Prison Northumberland on 1 April (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014;
	(2)  what the days staffing levels were against the (a) benchmark and (b) baseline staffing level at the time of the disturbance of HM Prison Northumberland on Saturday 29 March 2014;
	(3)  what shortfalls in staffing (a) including and (b) excluding temporary cover against Target B3 staffing levels there were at the time of the disturbance of HM Prison Northumberland on Saturday 29 March 2014;
	(4)  how many full-time equivalent prison officers were employed and how many such staff were off sick at HM Prison Northumberland on Saturday 29 March 2014;
	(5)  whether HM Prison Northumberland was (a) contributing staff to and (b) receiving staff as part of the detached duty programme on Saturday 29 March 2014;
	(6)  what change in full time equivalent staff of each grade there has been at HM Prison Northumberland since the running of the prison was transferred to Sodexo;

Jeremy Wright: The information requested could not be obtained within the timescale. I will write to the Member in due course.

Northumberland Prison

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice at what time the disturbance at HM Prison Northumberland on 29 March 2014 began; when it ceased; how many prisoners were involved in that disturbance; what injuries were sustained by prisoners and officers; how many prison officers were used to quell the disturbance; and what resources external to the prison were called on to assist in quelling the disturbance.

Jeremy Wright: A disturbance took place in part of one wing at HM Prison Northumberland on 29 March 2014. It began at approximately 4.45 pm and the affected wing was secured at 00.35 am on 30 March 2014 with no resistance from prisoners. 57 prisoners were involved with one reporting that he had been assaulted during the incident. No staff injuries were reported and minimal damage was caused.
	In response to the incident, Gold Command based at National Offender Management Service (NOMS) headquarters, was opened in support of management locally. In line with normal procedure, mutual aid arrangements involved 84 prison officers, together with local staff, were deployed. The National Tactical Response Group and National Dogs and Technical Support Group, as routine in such incidents, were also activated.

Offenders: Foreign Nationals

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many foreign nationals from (a) the EU and (b) countries outside the EU have been defendants in the (i) magistrates courts and (ii) Crown courts in England and Wales in the last year for which figures are available.

Shailesh Vara: The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. This database holds information on offences provided by the statutes under which proceedings are brought but not the specific circumstances of each case. It is not possible to identify from this centrally held information the nationality of offenders sentenced for criminal offences.
	Court proceedings data for 2013 are planned for publication in May 2014.

Personal Injury: Compensation

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions his Department's working group on the implementation of reforms to reduce the cost of personal injury compensation has met; whether his Department plans to publish the minutes of the working group's meetings; and what progress he has made on his plans to implement reforms to whiplash compensation later in 2014.

Shailesh Vara: The Ministry of Justice whiplash implementation core working group has met formally on two occasions, but it and its sub groups also work flexibly and at pace between meetings. With the core group’s agreement, the Department has no plans to publish minutes of these meetings although updates of the work programme are available on the Ministry of Justice website at:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/civil-justice-reforms/personal-injury-claims
	My colleague Lord Faulks wrote to stakeholders on 2 May to seek views on proposed fixed costs for medical reports and related issues (the letter and annexes are available at the link given above). Responses will be considered before amendments to the Road Traffic Accident Protocol and Civil Procedure Rules are finalised and presented to the Civil Procedure Rule Committee at its meeting on 6 June, with a view to their being approved by the Committee at its July meeting for implementation in October. The wider programme of work continues— particularly in relation to the accreditation of medical experts—and further changes will be implemented as soon as practicable.

Police Custody

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which police station cells were used to keep prisoners in overnight in February and March 2014; and on how many occasions.

Jeremy Wright: The number of prisoners held overnight in a police cell has come down to below 1,200 in 2013-14, after reaching a peak of over 50,000 in 2007-08.
	Prison numbers fluctuate throughout the year and we have sufficient accommodation for the current and expected population. We will always have enough prison places for those sent to us by the courts. There will be more adult male prison capacity in May 2015 than there was at the start of this Parliament.
	Police cells, under Operation Safeguard, have not been used since 22 September 2008 and no police cells under Operation Safeguard have been on stand by since the end of October 2008. Court cells have not been used since 28 February 2008 and have been stood down since March 2008.
	As part of standard logistical arrangements, there are occasions where prisoners may be temporarily held overnight in police cells. These largely consist of situations where escort contractors are unable to transport the prisoner to a suitable prison following a court appearance, where it would be impossible to transfer a prisoner to a prison in the time available. This is solely for overnight accommodation by the police before collection and onward transmission to the prison establishment the following working day. This is not the same as using Operation Safeguard.
	The following table shows the number of prisoners who were temporarily held overnight in police cells in February and March 2014. The totals include adults, young adults (18 to 20-year-olds) and young people (15 to 17-year-olds). In order to identify individual police station locations, it would require a manual check of each record in February and March and this could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 2014 Number 
			 February 372 
			 March 175

Prison Governors

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prison governors were in post in England and Wales of each (a) gender, (b) religion or faith, (c) ethnicity and (d) grade on 1 March in each of the last five years.

Jeremy Wright: The information requested as at 31 March 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 can be found in the following tables. Information on religion has only been available since 31 March 2013. These are the closest publication dates to the dates requested. Information relates to public sector prisons only. The equalities data for privately contracted prisons is not provided. This is because the public sector equality duty that they are subject to does not extend to a requirement for them to provide this equalities information.
	
		
			 Table: Number of prison governors in post in public sector prisons in England and Wales, broken down by gender, 31 March 2009 to 2013 
			 Gender March 2009 March 2010 March 2011 March 2012 March 2013 
			 Female 30 30 30 30 30 
			 Male 100 90 90 80 80 
			 Grand total 130 120 120 110 110 
		
	
	
		
			 Table: Number of prison governors in post in public sector prisons in England and Wales, broken down by religion, 31 March 2013 
			 Religion March 2013 
			 Christian 20 
			 No Religion — 
			 Unknown 90 
			 Total 110 
			 Note: Data on prison governors broken down by religion is not available prior to 31 March 2013. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table: Number of prison governors in post in public sector prisons in England and Wales, broken down by ethnicity, 31 March 2009 to 2013 
			 Ethnicity March 2009 March 2010 March 2011 March 2012 March 2013 
			 BME — — — 10 10 
			 White 130 110 110 100 100 
			 No data — — — — 10 
			 Grand total 130 120 120 110 110 
		
	
	
		
			 Table: Number of prison governors in post in public sector prisons in England and Wales, broken down by grade, 31 March 2009 to 2013 
			 Grade March 2009 March 2010 March 2011 March 2012 March 2013 
			 Senior civil servant — — — — — 
			 Senior manager A 30 30 30 30 30 
			 Senior manager B 50 40 40 40 40 
			 Senior manager C 50 40 40 40 40 
			 Senior manager D — — — — — 
			 Band 10 — — — — — 
			 Band 11 — — — — — 
			 Total 130 120 120 110 110 
		
	
	We have maintained our policy of rounding figures to the nearest 10 in line with the department’s policy for presenting staffing data. The data is only accurate to this level because late updating of data within HR systems means that the unrounded figures recorded for a specific date have a margin of error around them. Totals are formed from unrounded parts prior to rounding. For this reason, rounded totals may not equal the sum of their rounded parts.

Prison Sentences

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many of (a) all people in prison and (b) all people in prison who self-identified as Muslims on 1 January 2014 had (i) no previous custodial sentences, (ii) one previous custodial sentence, (iii) between two and five previous custodial sentences, (iv) between six and 10 previous custodial sentences and (v) over 10 previous custodial sentences;
	(2)  how many of (a) all people in prison and (b) all people in prison who self-identified as Muslims in 1 January 2014 were serving custodial sentences of less than (i) one month, (ii) three months, (iii) six months, (iv) 12 months, (v) 24 months, (vi) 60 months, (vii) 10 years and (viii) over 10 years;
	(3)  what the nationality was of (a) all people in prison and (b) people in prison who self-identified as Muslim on 1 January 2014;
	(4)  how many of (a) those in prison and (b) those in prison who self-identified as Muslim were (i) under the age of 18, (ii) aged between 18 and 21, (iii) aged between 21 and 25, (iv) aged between 26 and 30, (v) aged between 31 and 40, (vi) aged between 41 and 50, (vii) aged between 51 and 65 and (viii) aged over 65 years on 1 January 2014.

Jeremy Wright: Data are held centrally on the prison population in England and Wales on the last day of each month, so figures have been provided for 31December 2013 (with the exception of PQ 197068 which has been answered as at 30 June 2013—the latest available data for criminal history information).
	For PQ 197067, table 1 below provides the number for the sentenced prison population by sentence length for self-declared Muslim prisoners and the total for all religions.
	For PQ 197068, table 2 provides the number of offenders in prison on 30 June 2013 who identified themselves as Muslim and all other religions by the number of previous custodial sentences received.
	For PQ 197069, table 3 provides the prison population by nationality for self-declared Muslims and the total for all other religions.
	For PQ 197090, table 4 provides the prison population by age group for self-declared Muslims and the total for all other religions.
	Please note that the religion of prisoners is self-declared and prisoners are under no obligation to declare their religion.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
	
		
			 Table 1: Sentenced prison population by sentence length and religion, as at 31 December 2013, England and Wales 
			  All Muslims 
			 Less than 1 month 164 17 
		
	
	
		
			 1 month to less than 3 months 1,237 83 
			 3 months to less than 6 months 2,081 141 
			 Unrecorded less than 6 months 77 12 
			 6 months to less than 12 months 2,977 276 
			 12 months to less than 24 months 7,892 785 
			 24 month to less than 4 years 11,438 1,351 
			 Unrecorded 12 months to less than 4 years 235 32 
			 4 years to less than 5 years 7,736 1,114 
			 5 years to less than 10 years 13,148 2,062 
			 10 years 0 0 
			 More than 10 years to less than indeterminate 5,259 881 
			 Unrecorded 4 years to less than indeterminate 646 74 
			 Indeterminate 12,798 1,898 
			 Recall 5,125 569 
			 All 70,813 9,295 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Offenders in prison on 30 June 2013 who identified themselves as Muslim and all other religions by the number of previous custodial1 sentences received, England and Wales 
			  Number of previous custodial sentences 
			 Religion No previous custodial sentences One previous custodial sentence Two to five previous custodial sentences Six to 10 previous custodial sentences More than 10 previous custodial sentences 
			 Muslim 3,500 1,724 2,352 831 401 
			 All offenders (including unknown religion) 22,596 11,012 17,705 9,846 7,623 
			 1 Number of previous custodial sentences are counts of the number of separate occasions an offender has previously received an immediate custodial sentence and is calculated from the point of their latest immediate custodial sentence over the period. Note: All data have been taken from the MOJ extract of the Police National Computer. This includes details of all convictions, cautions, reprimands or warnings given for recordable offences, available at: www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2000/1139/schedule/made_for_definition In addition, like any large scale recording system, the PNC is subject to errors with data entry and recording. The PNC is regularly updated so that further analysis at a later date may generate revised figures. Source: Ministry of Justice, Police National Computer (PNC). 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 3: Prison population by nationality and religion, as at 31 December 2013, England and Wales 
			  All Muslims 
			 All nationalities 84,163 11,729 
			 British nationals 72,561 8,284 
			 Nationality not recorded 907 134 
			    
			 Afghanistan 172 161 
			 Albania 275 178 
			 Algeria 135 132 
			 Angola 53 18 
			 Antigua and Barbuda 7 1 
			 Argentina 8 1 
			 Armenia 6 0 
			 Aruba 4 3 
			 Australia 12 2 
			 Austria 6 2 
			 Azerbaijan 2 1 
			 Bahamas 1 0 
			 Bahrain 1 1 
			 Bangladesh 276 269 
			 Barbados 27 4 
			 Belgium 16 6 
		
	
	
		
			 Belize 1 0 
			 Benin 1 0 
			 Bermuda 2 1 
			 Bolivia 8 0 
			 Bosnia and Herzegovina 12 2 
			 Botswana 1 1 
			 Brazil 42 5 
			 Brunei Darussalam 1 0 
			 Bulgaria 57 9 
			 Burkina Faso 1 1 
			 Burundi 15 8 
			 Cameroon 19 2 
			 Canada 19 1 
			 Cayman Islands 3 0 
			 Central African Republic 11 2 
			 Chad 2 1 
			 Chile 6 0 
			 China 130 0 
			 Colombia 53 0 
			 Congo 116 29 
			 Costa Rica 5 0 
			 Croatia 8 2 
			 Cuba 3 0 
			 Cyprus 28 17 
			 Czech Republic 102 2 
			 Denmark 9 6 
			 Dominica 16 3 
			 Ecuador 8 1 
			 Egypt 22 18 
			 Equatorial Guinea 2 0 
			 Estonia 25 0 
			 Ethiopia 91 28 
			 Fiji 5 0 
			 Finland 3 3 
			 France 102 48 
			 Gambia 55 51 
			 Georgia 6 0 
			 Germany 64 7 
			 Ghana 140 13 
			 Greece 20 0 
			 Grenada 12 1 
			 Guam 1 1 
			 Guinea 18 15 
			 Guyana 22 7 
			 Haiti 2 0 
			 Honduras 2 0 
			 Hungary 50 2 
			 India 426 60 
			 Indonesia 1 0 
			 Iran 195 142 
			 Iraq 163 151 
			 Irish Republic 779 15 
			 Israel 44 35 
			 Italy 86 9 
			 Ivory Coast 24 7 
			 Jamaica 737 101 
			 Japan 2 1 
			 Jordan 1 1 
			 Kazakhstan 1 1 
		
	
	
		
			 Kenya 54 17 
			 Korea, DPR (North Korea) 1 0 
			 Korea, Republic of 4 0 
			 Kuwait 14 13 
			 Lao Peoples Democratic Republic 1 0 
			 Latvia 204 4 
			 Lebanon 12 8 
			 Liberia 15 7 
			 Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 24 24 
			 Lithuania 502 3 
			 Macedonia 3 2 
			 Malawi 7 1 
			 Malaysia 23 2 
			 Mali 3 3 
			 Malta 3 0 
			 Mauritania 5 3 
			 Mauritius 24 8 
			 Mexico 14 0 
			 Moldova 5 0 
			 Mongolia 1 0 
			 Montserrat 3 0 
			 Morocco 60 56 
			 Mozambique 1 0 
			 Myanmar 2 2 
			 Nepal 21 1 
			 Netherlands 115 61 
			 Netherlands Antilles 2 2 
			 New Zealand 2 0 
			 Niger 17 5 
			 Nigeria 469 85 
			 Norway 3 3 
			 Oman 1 1 
			 Other 1 0 
			 Pakistan 548 533 
			 Papua New Guinea 1 0 
			 Paraguay 1 0 
			 Peru 1 0 
			 Philippines 17 0 
			 Poland 938 11 
			 Portugal 242 35 
			 Qatar 2 2 
			 Romania 547 14 
			 Russian Federation 65 8 
			 Rwanda 12 4 
			 Samoa 1 1 
			 Saudi Arabia 12 11 
			 Senegal 7 7 
			 Serbia 61 37 
			 Seychelles 2 1 
			 Sierra Leone 72 26 
			 Singapore 4 1 
			 Slovakia 114 2 
			 Slovenia 4 1 
			 Somalia 430 406 
			 South Africa 79 6 
			 Spain 67 7 
			 Sri Lanka 134 15 
		
	
	
		
			 St Kitts and Nevis 3 2 
			 St Lucia 22 3 
			 St Vincent and the Grenadines 11 1 
			 Sudan 51 39 
			 Sweden 15 10 
			 Switzerland 2 1 
			 Syrian Arab Republic 23 23 
			 Taiwan (Nationalist Chinese) 1 0 
			 Tanzania 12 10 
			 Thailand 9 0 
			 Togo 2 0 
			 Trinidad and Tobago 55 9 
			 Tunisia 21 20 
			 Turkey 118 101 
			 Turkmenistan 4 3 
			 Uganda 49 18 
			 Ukraine 28 0 
			 United Arab Emirates 1 1 
			 United States 49 9 
			 Uzbekistan 5 2 
			 Venezuela 8 0 
			 Vietnam 247 2 
			 Yemen, Republic of 12 11 
			 Zambia 15 3 
			 Zimbabwe 174 15 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 4: Prison population by age group and religion, as at 31 December 2013, England and Wales 
			  All Muslims 
			 Under 18 760 173 
			 18-20 5,915 1,115 
			 21-25 15,779 2,887 
			 26-30 15,340 2,661 
			 31-40 22,532 3,242 
			 41-50 14,334 1,207 
			 51-65 7,758 410 
			 65 and over 1,745 34 
			 Total 84,163 11,729

Prison Service

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which prisons were (a) receivers and (b) suppliers of detached duty staff in each month since December 2013.

Jeremy Wright: A nationally co-ordinated detached duty scheme has been operating since 21 October 2013. Information on which public sector establishments have either received or provided staff on detached duty since the beginning of the nationally co-ordinated scheme until 31 December 2013 is contained in the following table. Some allocations outside of the national scheme continued after October 2013 but are not included in the information provided. London region particularly allocated staff within their own region. Information is collected on the staffing allocated. On occasions the resource is not actually deployed due to changes in local circumstances.
	The deployment of staff between prisons on detached duty is a regular and normal part of prison resourcing. It allows staff to be allocated from prisons with the capacity to provide them, to those where additional staffing is required. On average over the three-month period (October to December 2013), less than 1% of staff were provided on detached duty. A large proportion of the capacity was available from prisons that were in the process of closure or going through a re-role. This process temporarily releases a number of officers who are not supplied for specific occasions but are sent and received on a shift pattern throughout the week.
	
		
			 Establishments supplying staff on detached duty and being supported by detached duty1, 2,21 October 2013 to 31 December 2013 
			  Prisons supplying staff on detached duty Prisons which have been supported by detached duty 
			 Scheme started in October so no data available for September   
			 October 2013 (Data relates to part month from 21 October) Blundeston Cookham Wood 
			  Downview Feltham 
			  Northallerton Isis 
			  Reading Moorland/Lindholme 
			  The Verne Nottingham 
			  Warren Hill The Mount 
			    
			 November 2013 Blundeston Bristol 
			  Dorchester Cookham Wood 
			  Downview Erlestoke 
			  Eastwood Park Feltham 
			  Northallerton Guys Marsh 
			  Reading Isis 
			  The Verne Leeds 
			  Warren Hill Littlehey 
			  Wealstun Moorland/Lindholme 
			  Wetherby Norwich 
			  Various north-east prisons Nottingham 
			   Pentonville 
			   Portland 
			   The Mount 
			   Wayland 
			    
			 December 2013 Blundeston Aylesbury 
			  Bure Bedford 
			  Dorchester Bristol 
			  Downview Brixton 
			  Eastwood Park Bullingdon 
			  Northallerton Coldingley 
			  Norwich Cookham Wood 
			  Reading Erlestoke 
			  Stoke Heath Feltham 
		
	
	
		
			  The Verne Glen Parva 
			  Warren Hill Guys Marsh 
			  Wealstun High Down 
			  Various north-east prisons Isis 
			   Isle of Wight 
			   Leeds 
			   Leicester 
			   Leyhill 
			   Littlehey 
			   Moorland/Lindholme 
			   Norwich 
			   Nottingham 
			   Onley 
			   Pentonville 
			   Portland 
			   Rochester 
			   Send 
			   Sheppey Cluster 
			   The Mount 
			   Wandsworth 
			   Wayland 
			   Werrington 
			   Winchester 
			   Wormwood Scrubs 
			 1 The information relates to staffing that was allocated to establishments. On occasions the allocated staffing is not actually deployed due to changed circumstances locally. 2 Regional detached duty was taking place up until November, alongside the National Scheme but is not included in the table.

Prison Service

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which prisons were operating below the (a) benchmark and (b) baseline staffing level in (i) December 2013, (ii) January, (iii) February and (iv) March 2014.

Jeremy Wright: I refer the right hon. Member to the reply given on 13 May 2014, Official Report, column 480W, in which the benchmark level and staff in post of prison officers was provided.
	Benchmarking is by far the best means of delivering value for money for the public purse (savings of £175 million by 2015-16). It optimises the skills of staff by introducing new ways of working and puts all prison officers in prisoner-facing roles.
	Our benchmarking approach has been agreed with the unions, and it will help the wider strategy of reconfiguring the prison estate which the NAO has commented is the most coherent and comprehensive for many years. Benchmarking delivers efficiencies while ensuring that public sector prisons can operate safely, decently and securely.

Prison Service

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many sexual assaults on prison staff there were in each prison in each of the last four years.

Jeremy Wright: Due to the low numbers of sexual assaults on prison staff, the information requested cannot be provided in order to protect the confidentiality of those staff involved.

Prison Service

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many members of staff in each prison in England and Wales were serving on detached duty in (a) January, (b) February and (c) March 2014.

Jeremy Wright: A nationally co-ordinated detached duty scheme has been operating since 21 October 2013. Information on the number of officers serving on detached duty before the introduction of the national scheme is not available. The full-time equivalent of officers provided on detached duty from the beginning of the nationally co-ordinated scheme until the 31 December 2013 is contained in the following table. Some allocations outside of the national scheme continued after October 2013 but is not included in the information provided. London region particularly allocated staff within their own region. Information collected on the staffing allocated. On occasions the resource is not actually deployed due to changes in local circumstances.
	The deployment of staff between prisons on detached duty is a regular and normal part of prison resourcing. It allows staff to be allocated from prisons with the capacity to provide them, to those where additional staffing is required. On average over the three month period (October to December 2013), less than 1% of staff were provided on detached duty. A large proportion of the capacity was available from prisons that were in the process of closure or going through a re-role. This process temporarily releases a number of officers who are not supplied for specific occasions but are sent and received on a shift pattern throughout the week.
	
		
			 Full-time equivalent of officers working on detached duty1—21 October 2013 to 31 December 2013 
			 Full-time equivalent officers provided on detached duty 
			 October 2013 (Data relates to part month from 21 October) 46 
			 November 2013 107 
			 December 2013 205 
			 1 Detached duty figures are not published but other staffing data is published up to 31 December 2013 and therefore information is only presented up until that date. Note: Scheme started in October so no data available for earlier period

Prison Service

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prison officers were serving on detached duty in each month from January 2011 to January 2014.

Jeremy Wright: A nationally co-ordinated detached duty scheme has been operating since 21 October 2013. Information on the number of officers serving on detached duty before the introduction of the national scheme is not available. The full-time equivalent of officers provided on detached duty from the beginning of the nationally co-ordinated scheme until the 31 December 2013 is contained in the following table. Some allocations outside of the national scheme continued after October 2013 but is not included in the information provided. London region particularly allocated staff within their own region. Information collected on the staffing allocated. On occasions the resource is not actually deployed due to changes in local circumstances.
	The deployment of staff between prisons on detached duty is a regular and normal part of prison resourcing. It allows staff to be allocated from prisons with the capacity to provide them, to those where additional staffing is required. On average over the three month period (October to December 2013), less than 1% of staff were provided on detached duty. A large proportion of the capacity was available from prisons that were in the process of closure or going through a re-role. This process temporarily releases a number of officers who are not supplied for specific occasions but are sent and received on a shift pattern throughout the week.
	
		
			 Full-time equivalent of officers working on detached duty1 - 21 October 2013 to 31 December 2013 
			 Full-time equivalent officers provided on detached duty 
			 October 2013 (Data relates to part month from 21 October) 46 
			 November 2013 107 
			 December 2013 205 
			 1 Detached duty figures are not published but other staffing data is published up to 31 December 2013 and therefore information is only presented up until that date. Note: Scheme started in October so no data available for earlier period.

Prison Service

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much was spent by his Department on travel and accommodation costs for prison officers serving on detached duty in (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013.

Jeremy Wright: Identifying total travel and accommodation costs for prisons serving detached duty would require manual collation of data from online expenses systems and travel providers, which would incur disproportionate cost.

Prisoners

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many vulnerable prisoners are currently held in prisons in England and Wales;
	(2)  how many vulnerable prisoners are held in dedicated vulnerable prisoner accommodation.

Jeremy Wright: The term ‘vulnerable prisoner’ covers a wide range of prisoner types/characteristics but broadly these are those who need protection from themselves and other prisoners for a variety of reasons, including the nature of their offence, debt or conflicts outside or within the prison.
	Our approach to managing these prisoners varies according to the nature of why they are deemed as vulnerable and is dependent on specific offending needs.
	The number of prisoners in England and Wales who are identified as vulnerable is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost as it would involve contacting every prison directly in order to request how many prisoners each prison has identified, or is managing, as a vulnerable prisoner.
	All closed prisons in England and Wales have the facility to accommodate vulnerable prisoners in designated accommodation.

Prisoners

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the number of (a) men and (b) women in prison for committing an offence involving violence against the person where the victim was (i) male and (ii) female.

Jeremy Wright: There is a comprehensive range of offences dealing with violence against the person and the sentencing framework and sentencing guidelines apply equally to all offenders. Sentencing in individual cases is entirely a matter for the courts, taking account of all the circumstances of each case. This will include the seriousness of the offence, including all aggravating and mitigating factors, and a guilty plea. Defendants are now more likely to be convicted for committing crime and sent to prison for longer than they were a decade ago.
	The information held within the prison population data is not available at sufficient enough detail to identify the gender of the victim. However, the figures in Table 1.2 of the latest offender management statistics,
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-october-december-2013-and-annual
	show how many men and women are in prison by offence type.

Prisoners' Home Leave

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of eligible (a) male and (b) female offenders were recalled on a fixed term recall instead of a standard recall (i) in 2008, (ii) in 2009, (iii) in 2010, (iv) in 2011, (v) in 2012 and (vi) since 3 December 2012.

Jeremy Wright: It has not been possible to obtain this information. I will write to my hon. Friend in due course.

Prisoners: British Nationals Abroad

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  of what crimes UK citizens returned from abroad to complete their custodial sentences in prisons in England and Wales had been convicted in each of the last four years;
	(2)  how many UK citizens returned from abroad to complete their custodial sentences in prisons in England and Wales in each of the last four years;
	(3)  from which countries UK citizens returned to complete their sentences in prisons in England and Wales in each of the last four years;
	(4)  what length of custodial sentence had been given to each UK citizen returned from abroad to complete their custodial sentence in prisons in England and Wales in each of the last four years; and how much of their sentence remained on their arrival back in the UK in each such case.

Jeremy Wright: It has not been possible to obtain this information. I will write to my hon. Friend in due course.

Prisoners: Driving Instruction

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many serving prisoners received driving lessons in the latest period for which figures are available.

Jeremy Wright: In 2013, the latest year for which data are available, 190 prisoners were recorded as taking car driving lessons/tests.
	All prisoners are thoroughly risk-assessed before being allowed to take these lessons and are only permitted to do so if the licence is required to help their rehabilitation, for example improving future employment prospects, thus reducing their likelihood of re-offending.

Prisoners: Pay

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the maximum is a prisoner can earn per (a) week, (b) month and (c) year from working while serving a custodial sentence.

Jeremy Wright: Maximum rates of pay for prisoners are not set centrally. Governors have responsibility for setting rates of pay in each establishment, which should reflect regime priorities. NOMS Prisoners' Pay policy is set out in Prison Service Order 4460, a copy of which is held in the House of Commons Library.

Prisoners: Radicalism

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what mechanisms are in place for (a) prisoners and (b) prison officers and staff to raise concerns about the radicalisation of prisoners;
	(2)  on how many occasions (a) prison officers, (b) prison governors and (c) prison staff in each prison in England and Wales have raised concerns about radicalisation in each year since 2010.

Jeremy Wright: Any prisoner who wishes to raise concerns about radicalisation will be able to raise those concerns with a member of staff, in person, or anonymously. Prisoners are also able to raise concerns through other channels such as the IMB, their MP or the Prison and Probation Ombudsman. Any member of staff who has such concerns can submit an intelligence report or speak to a colleague, manager, their security department or specialist staff.
	Prison staff are required to report on a wide range of behaviours linked to extremist motivated activities some of which could represent radicalisation. Such reports are considered by a prison-based multi agency panel to help access the motivation for the reported behaviour and to direct further action to develop the information or to intervene with the prisoner. Where appropriate these reports are escalated to regional or national level.
	To establish the number of reports submitted would therefore require examining the records of all prisoners in the system which could only be done at significant disproportionate cost.

Prisoners: Self-harm

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many self-harm incidents there were (a) in total and (b) per 1,000 prisoners in each prison in each of the last four years.

Jeremy Wright: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not tolerate violence of any kind in prisons and any instance is taken very seriously.
	NOMS is committed to exploring options to continue to improve how violence is tackled in prisons to keep both staff and prisoners safe. It is currently reviewing the policy and practice of the management of violence.
	Over the last five years the rate of assaults has fallen by 13%.
	The number of assaults by prison for 2010 to 2013 can be found in table 3.14 of the assaults section of the latest Safety in Custody Statistics bulletin which can be found here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics
	The number of self-harm incidents by prison for 2010 to 2013 can be found in table 2.13 of the self-harm section of the above bulletin.
	The other numbers requested covering 2010 to 2013 have been placed in the Library. Table 1 shows the number of serious assaults by prison. Table 2 shows the number of assault incidents per 1,000 prisoners by prison. Table 3 shows the number of self-harm incidents per 1,000 prisoners by prison.
	Risk of assault and self-harm is distributed unevenly around the prison estate. Gender, age and other factors such as the size and composition of the prison population, can affect the number of self-harm or assault incidents that occur in a particular establishment. Therefore, careful interpretation is needed of the incident and rates tables at a prison level.

Prisoners: Suicide

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department is taking to implement the recommendations of the Prison and Probation Ombudsman's (PPO) report on Learning from PPO Investigations: Risk factors in self-inflicted deaths in prisons.

Jeremy Wright: We will carefully consider the Ombudsman’s recommendations made in the Learning Lessons Bulletin on Risk Factors in self-inflicted deaths in prison to identify further learning. I also refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the Lord’s oral question on 6 February 2014, Official Report, column 36, announcing that the Government has established an Independent Review into the self-inflicted deaths of 18 to 24-year-olds in NOMS custody. The review is being led by Lord Harris of Haringey and will report by spring 2015. NOMS takes the safety of prisoners very seriously and draws learning from individual death in custody reports from the PPO as quickly as possible.

Prisons

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what additional staffing requirements will arise in HM Prison Hull and HM Prison Chelmsford from the re-opening of closed wings; what the cost of this re-opening will be; and where any additional staff be sourced from;
	(2)  what extra capacity will be created by re-opening the closed wings at (a) HM Prison Hull and (b) HM Prison Chelmsford;
	(3)  how much will have been spent on maintining the closed wings at HM Prison Hull and HM Prison Chelmsford by the time both will re-open;
	(4)  how much has been spent maintaining the closed wings at HM Prison Hull and HM Prison Chelmsford to date;
	(5)  when the re-opened wings at (a) HM Prison Hull and (b) HM Prison Chelmsford will take prisoners;
	(6)  for what reasons the closed wings at (a) HM Prison Hull and (b) HM Prison Chelmsford were (i) closed and (ii) re-opened.

Jeremy Wright: We will always have enough prison places for those sent to us by the courts and continue to modernise the prison estate so that it delivers best value for the taxpayer.
	This Government has a long term strategy for managing the prison estate. We will have increased the adult male prison capacity so that we have more places than we inherited from the previous Government.
	The retention of significant spare prison capacity over and above what is required is expensive and cannot be justified given the current financial climate. The mothballing of spare capacity at HM Prisons Chelmsford and Hull saved the taxpayer £3.6 million in the financial year 2013-14. This compares to the significantly lower cost of maintaining this accommodation on a mothballed basis, so that it could be reactivated if necessary.
	We have reviewed the refurbishment requirements at both sites and believe that, with minor investment, they can now be reopened on a contingency basis without carrying out a full refurbishment. These costs are anticipated to be around £132,000 by the time they have reopened. From the end of March to date, around £12,000 has been spent on Chelmsford, and around £107,000 has been spent on Hull.
	The indicative additional staffing requirement to reactivate the places at Hull is around 65 members of staff—of which approximately 40 are uniformed. The indicative additional staffing requirement to reactivate the places at Chelmsford is around 30 members of staff—of which approximately 20 are uniformed grades. This means we are able to create additional places at an average cost of £7,000 per place (subject to final benchmarking review), as opposed to the average cost of a prison per place of £26,139.
	The staffing requirement will initially be met by short term detached duty from other prisons, before looking to redeploy staff permanently where surpluses exist—and if necessary through external recruitment.
	Subject to certification, Hull will create 282 places and Chelmsford 148 places, with prisoners due to start arriving this summer.
	The reactivation of these places is a prudent and good value for money response to an increased prison population. Under the previous administration, police and court cells were turned into temporary prisons, with over 50,000 prisoners held in these cells in 2007-08 alone.

Prisons

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much in total his Department expects to have spent on mothballing the closed wings at HM Prison Hull and HM Prison Chelmsford by the time they re-open.

Jeremy Wright: We will always have enough prison places for those sent to us by the courts and continue to modernise the prison estate so that it delivers best value for the taxpayer.
	This Government has a long term strategy for managing the prison estate. We will have increased the adult male prison capacity so that we have more places than we inherited from the previous Government.
	The retention of significant spare prison capacity over and above what is required is expensive and cannot be justified given the current financial climate. The mothballing of spare capacity at HM Prisons Chelmsford and Hull saved the taxpayer £3.6 million in the financial year 2013-14. This compares to the significantly lower cost of maintaining this accommodation on a mothballed basis, so that it could be reactivated if necessary.
	We have reviewed the refurbishment requirements at both sites and believe that, with minor investment, they can now be reopened on a contingency basis without carrying out a full refurbishment. These costs are anticipated to be around £132,000 by the time they have reopened. From the end of March to date, around £12,000 has been spent on Chelmsford, and around £107,000 has been spent on Hull.
	Subject to certification, Hull will create 282 places and Chelmsford 148 places, with prisoners due to start arriving this summer.
	The reactivation of these places is a prudent and good value for money response to an increased prison population. Under the previous administration, police and court cells were turned into temporary prisons, with over 50,000 prisoners held in these cells in 2007-08 alone.

Prisons: Crimes of Violence

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) assault incidents, (b) serious assaults and (c) assault incidents per 1,000 prisoners there were in each prison in each of the last four years.

Jeremy Wright: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not tolerate violence of any kind in prisons and any instance is taken very seriously.
	NOMS is committed to exploring options to continue to improve how violence is tackled in prisons to keep both staff and prisoners safe. It is currently reviewing the policy and practice of the management of violence.
	Over the last five years the rate of assaults has fallen by 13%.
	The number of assaults by prison for 2010 to 2013 can be found in table 3.14 of the assaults section of the latest Safety in Custody Statistics bulletin which can be found here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics
	The number of self-harm incidents by prison for 2010 to 2013 can be found in table 2.13 of the self-harm section of the above bulletin.
	The other numbers requested covering 2010 to 2013 have been placed in the Library. Table 1 shows the number of serious assaults by prison. Table 2 shows the number of assault incidents per 1,000 prisoners by prison. Table 3 shows the number of self-harm incidents per 1,000 prisoners by prison.
	Risk of assault and self-harm is distributed unevenly around the prison estate. Gender, age and other factors such as the size and composition of the prison population, can affect the number of self-harm or assault incidents that occur in a particular establishment. Therefore, careful interpretation is needed of the incident and rates tables at a prison level.

Prisons: Crimes of Violence

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) assaults and (b) serious assaults on staff per 1,000 prisoners there were in each prison in each of the last four years.

Jeremy Wright: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not tolerate violence of any kind in prisons and any instance is taken very seriously.
	NOMS is committed to exploring options to continue to improve how violence is tackled in prisons to keep both staff and prisoners safe. It is currently reviewing the policy and practice of the management of violence.
	Over the last five years, the rate of assaults has fallen by 13%.
	Risk of assault is distributed unevenly around the prison estate. Gender, age and other factors such as the size and composition of the prison population, can affect the number assault incidents that occur in a particular establishment. Therefore, careful interpretation is needed of the incident and rates tables at a prison level.
	The number of (a) assaults on staff per 1,000 prisoners in each prison has been placed in the Library.
	Due to the low number of serious assaults on prison staff at prison level, the information requested on rates (b) cannot be provided in order to protect the confidentiality of those staff involved.

Prisons: Disciplinary Proceedings

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions the Prison Service Gold Command has been opened in each of the last 36 months; and what the nature was of each incident that caused it to be opened.

Jeremy Wright: A Gold Command Suite (GCS) is located at National Offender Management Service (NOMS) headquarters in London. It provides strategic assistance in the managing of serious prison incidents to the Governor of a prison in England and Wales.
	
		
			 Reason 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 
			 Hostage 20 27 54 
			 Concerted indiscipline 4 6 13 
			 Escape 1 - - 
			 Industrial Action 1 4 - 
			 Barricade 2 - - 
			 Civil Disturbances 1 - - 
			 At Height 3 5 11 
			 Fire - 1 - 
			 Barricade - - 2 
			 Miscellaneous - - 1 
		
	
	
		
			 Total 32 43 81 
		
	
	Although there has been an increase in the number of times the GCS was opened, the number of callouts of Tornado staff (a mutual aid arrangement between prisons who respond to the most serious incidents that cannot be managed locally) is half of what it was in 2007. There has been no rise in the number of serious incidents being attended.
	A large part of the increase in the number of times the GCS was opened was for hostage incidents. Many incidents that we manage as “hostage” we believe to be acts of collusion between the alleged perpetrator and victim(s) in attempts to have their demands met. NOMS National Tactical Response Group, which has the specialist skills required to deal with such incidents, is frequently called to attend as a precautionary measure. Many of these incidents are dealt with very quickly with minimal disruption to the prison.

Prisons: Employment

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what items prisoners are barred from purchasing with earned income.

Jeremy Wright: Prisoners are barred from purchasing those items which could compromise good order, security and safety, or which is otherwise unlawful. Prisoners are also not permitted to purchase items that are prohibited for reasons of public protection.
	Under the incentives and earned privileges national policy framework, prisoners can purchase those items that the governor has selected from the standardised facilities list, which identifies and limits the property that prisoners can retain in their cells.

Prisons: Libraries

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  which prisons have libraries; and which organisations (a) run and (b) fund each such library;
	(2)  what the budget was for prison libraries (a) in total and (b) for each prison in each of the last four years.

Jeremy Wright: The Prison Service has always recognised the importance of reading and literature in the rehabilitative process, and the positive effects these have on prisoners. Every prison has a library, which is available to all prisoners to ensure they have access to books and other material for education and training purposes.
	The following table shows the organisations that provide and fund library services in each prison. The table also shows the available information in relation to the allocated budget for prison library services over the past four years, broken down by prison and in total.
	In the case of Wealstun and Isis, the reduction in spending is due to initial set up costs in previous financial years.
	For prisons in Wales, the reduction in spend is due to the change of stock rotation that were implemented in 2011 in line with Welsh library service standards. Learning and skills managers re-negotiated the capitation funds and this resulted in a reduction in cost but not a reduction in opening hours or quality of material provided.
	In respect of privately-managed prisons, contracts awarded before 2011 include library provision as part of the overall custodial service. The break down of these contract costs is commercially confidential, and is therefore not available and is not shown in the overall total. Prison contracts awarded since 2011 do have identified levels of funding for prison libraries and these are shown in the table.
	
		
			 Libraries Allocation by Prisons, 2010-11 to 2013-14 
			 £ 
			    Allocation 
			 Establishment Library provider Funded By 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 
			 England       
			 Acklington Northumberland County Council NOMS 86,085 86,085 86,085 See Note 7 
			 Albany Isle of Wight NOMS 65,897 65,897 65,897 66,090 
			 Altcourse G4S G4S See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 
			 Ashfield Serco Serco See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 
			 Ashwell Rutland County Council NOMS 63,000 See Note 6 See Note 6 See Note 6 
			 Askham Grange York City Council NOMS 25,003 25,003 25,003 25,208 
			 Aylesbury Buckinghamshire County Council NOMS 49,331 49,331 49,331 49,524 
			 Bedford Bedfordshire County Council NOMS 60,065 60,065 60,065 60,494 
			 Belmarsh London Borough of Greenwich NOMS 85,430 85,430 85,430 89,701 
			 Birmingham Birmingham City Council NOMS 93,595 93,797 93,595 94,175 
			 Blakenhurst Worcestershire County Council NOMS 87,993 87,993 87,993 92,392 
			 Blantyre House Kent County Council NOMS 25,003 25,003 25,003 26,108 
			 Blundeston Suffolk County Council NOMS 60,375 60,375 60,375 58,696 
			 Brinsford Staffordshire County Council NOMS 77,928 71,968 71,968 72,466 
			 Bristol Bristol City Council NOMS 68,993 68,993 68,993 69,474 
			 Brixton London Borough Lambeth NOMS 78,948 78,948 78,948 81,015 
			 Brockhill Worcestershire County Council NOMS 25,003 25,003 See Note 6 See Note 6 
			 Bronzefield Sodexo Sodexo See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 
			 Buckley Hall Rochdale Borough Council NOMS 51,468 59,468 59,468 59,468 
			 Bullingdon Oxfordshire County Council NOMS 88,589 88,589 88,589 88,781 
			 Bullwood Hall Essex County Council NOMS 26,438 26,438 28,609 See Note 6 
			 Bure Norfolk County Council NOMS 62,280 62,280 62,280 67,513 
			 Camp Hill Isle of Wight NOMS 66,330 66,330 66,330 See Note 6 
			 Canterbury Kent County Council NOMS 37,543 37,543 37,543 See Note 6 
			 Cardiff Cardiff County Library Service Welsh Government 18,600 34,221 35,400 28,943 
			 Castington Northumberland County Council NOMS 52,713 52,713 52,713 See Note 7 
			 Channings Wood Devon County Council NOMS 75,511 75,511 75,511 76,011 
			 Chelmsford Essex County Council NOMS 72,100 72,100 72,100 64,083 
			 Coldingley Surrey Library Service NOMS 60,173 60,173 60,173 55,442 
			 Cookham Wood Medway Council NOMS 25,003 25,003 25,003 24,986 
			 Dartmoor Devon County Council NOMS 69,396 69,396 69,396 69,866 
			 Deerbolt Durham County Council NOMS 60,173 60,173 60,173 60,493 
			 Doncaster Doncaster Borough Council NOMS See Note 5 See Note 5 89,000 89,552 
			 Dorchester Dorset County Council NOMS 31,804 31,804 31,804 30,920 
			 Dovegate Serco Serco See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 
			 Downview Surrey Library Service NOMS 43,127 43,127 43,127 43,423 
			 Drake Hall Staffordshire County Council NOMS 37,559 37,559 37,559 37,814 
			 Durham Durham County Council NOMS 87,054 87,054 87,054 88,374 
			 East Sutton Park Kent County Council NOMS 25,003 25,003 25,003 24,308 
			 Eastwood Park South Gloucestershire Library and Information Service NOMS 43,174 43,174 43,174 43,473 
			 Edmunds Hill Suffolk County Council NOMS 43,313 43,313 43,313 43,609 
		
	
	
		
			 Elmley Kent County Council NOMS 89,398 92,398 92,398 97,018 
			 Erlestoke Wiltshire County Council NOMS 54,620 54,620 54,620 55,001 
			 Everthorpe East Riding Library Services NOMS 72,010 72,010 72,010 72,508 
			 Exeter Devon County Council NOMS 60,483 60,483 60,483 60,901 
			 Featherstone Staffordshire County Council NOMS 71,504 71,504 71,504 71,915 
			 Feltham Hounslow Library Management Group NOMS 80,390 80,790 80,790 83,651 
			 Ford West Sussex County Council NOMS 65,742 65,742 65,742 66,113 
			 Forest Bank Sodexo Sodexo See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 
			 Foston Hall Derbyshire County Council NOMS 32,006 34,006 34,006 34,260 
			 Frankland (Main Location) Durham County Council NOMS 50,419 50,419 50,419 50,016 
			 Frankland (Vulnerable prisoners) Durham County Council NOMS 52,147 52,147 52,147 51,697 
			 Frankland (Westgate) Durham County Council NOMS 25,003 25,003 25,003 24,808 
			 Full Sutton East Riding Library Services NOMS 68,838 68,838 68,838 69,223 
			 Garth Lancashire County Council NOMS 81,195 81,195 81,195 83,000 
			 Gartree Leicester City Libraries NOMS 72,010 72,010 72,010 72,508 
			 Glen Parva Leicester City Libraries NOMS 80,614 80,614 80,614 80,840 
			 Gloucester Gloucestershire County Council NOMS 37,652 37,652 37,652 See Note 6 
			 Grendon Buckinghamshire County Council NOMS 70,282 70,282 70,282 70,475 
			 Guys Marsh Dorset County Council NOMS 66,067 66,067 66,067 66,530 
			 Hatfield Doncaster Borough Council NOMS See Note 8 See Note 8 34,000 34,254 
			 Haverigg Cumbria County Council NOMS 69,458 69,458 69,458 69,460 
			 Hewell Grange Worcestershire County Council NOMS 25,003 25,003 25,003 25,208 
			 High Down Surrey Library Service NOMS 88,425 88,425 88,425 88,922 
			 Highpoint Suffolk Libraries IPS NOMS 86,056 86,056 86,056 90,358 
			 Hindley Wigan and Leisure Culture Trust NOMS 57,889 57,889 57,889 57,828 
			 Hollesley Bay Suffolk County Council (Libraries IPS) NOMS 38,024 38,024 38,024 39,925 
			 Holloway London Borough Islington NOMS 60,548 60,548 60,548 68,019 
			 Holme House Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council NOMS 88,724 88,924 88,924 91,123 
			 Hull Hull Central Library NOMS 87,546 87,546 87,546 81,235 
			 Huntercombe Oxfordshire County Council NOMS 43,220 43,220 45,220 45,412 
			 Isis Greenwich Leisure Ltd NOMS 96,354 66,489 66,489 65,436 
			 Kennet Sefton Borough Council NOMS 42,662 42,662 42,662 42,662 
			 Kingston Portsmouth City Council NOMS 25,003 25,003 25,003 See Note 6 
			 Kirkham Lancashire County Council NOMS 66,253 66,253 66,253 66,260 
			 Kirklevington Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council NOMS 32,176 32,176 32,176 32,496 
			 Lancaster Lancashire County Council NOMS 26,670 See Note 6 See Note 6 See Note 6 
			 Lancaster Farms Lancashire County Council NOMS 60,437 60,437 60,437 60,440 
			 Latchmere House closed - was a resettlement prison drawing on local library services NOMS 3,084 3,084 See Note 6 See Note 6 
			 Leeds Leeds City Council NOMS 89,185 89,185 89,185 93,644 
			 Leicester Leicester City Libraries NOMS 43,639 43,639 43,639 43,925 
		
	
	
		
			 Lewes East Sussex County Council NOMS 72,517 72,517 72,517 73,135 
			 Leyhill South Gloucestershire Library and Information Service NOMS 60,158 60,158 60,158 60,585 
			 Lincoln Lincolnshire County Council NOMS 75,650 75,650 75,650 76,146 
			 Lindholme Doncaster Borough Council NOMS 88,887 88,887 88,887 93,331 
			 Lindholme 2 Doncaster Borough Council NOMS See Note 9 See Note 9 24,195 24,322 
			 Littlehey 1 Cambridgeshire County Council NOMS 75,464 75,464 75,464 75,965 
			 Littlehey 2 Cambridgeshire County Council NOMS 62,066 62,066 62,066 62,440 
			 Liverpool Liverpool City Council NOMS 93,580 93,580 93,580 96,590 
			 Long Lartin Worcestershire County Council NOMS 71,012 71,012 71,012 71,437 
			 Lowdham Grange Serco Serco See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 
			 Low Newton Durham County Council NOMS 37,884 37,884 37,884 40,504 
			 Maidstone Kent County Council NOMS 68,776 68,776 68,776 69,163 
			 Manchester Manchester City Council NOMS 117,684 117,684 117,684 121,200 
			 Moorland Doncaster Borough Council NOMS 87,560 87,560 87,560 91,938 
			 Morton Hall Lincolnshire County Council NOMS 43,639 See Note 3 See Note 3 See Note 3 
			 Mount Hertfordshire County Council NOMS 78,483 78,483 78,483 79,000 
			 New Hall Wakefield City Council NOMS 49,377 49,377 49,377 49,704 
			 North Sea Camp Lincolnshire County Council NOMS 37,605 37,605 37,605 39,486 
			 Northallerton North Yorkshire Library Head Quarters NOMS 37,357 37,357 37,357 36,318 
			 Northumberland Northumberland County Council NOMS See Note 7 See Note 7 See Note 7 98,258 
			 Norwich Norfolk County Council NOMS 80,003 80,003 80,003 80,673 
			 Nottingham Nottingham City Council NOMS 93,162 87,570 87,570 91,948 
			 Oakwood Staffordshire County Council NOMS See Note 10 See Note 10 96,000 96,595 
			 Onley Northamptonshire County Council NOMS 79,154 79,154 79,154 79,652 
			 Parc Bridgend County Council G4S See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 
			 Parkhurst Isle of Wight NOMS 55,039 55,039 55,039 55,231 
			 Pentonville London Borough Islington NOMS 90,943 90,943 90,943 88,147 
			 Peterborough Sodexo Sodexo See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 
			 Portland Dorset County Council NOMS 66,488 66,488 66,488 66,939 
			 Preston Lancashire County Council NOMS 81,121 81,121 81,121 82,000 
			 Ranby Nottinghamshire County Council NOMS 88,350 88,350 88,350 92,768 
			 Reading Reading Borough Council NOMS 32,393 32,393 32,393 31,586 
			 Risley Warrington Borough Council NOMS 88,305 88,305 88,305 92,280 
			 Rochester Medway Council NOMS 79,362 79,362 79,362 79,554 
			 Rye Hill Manchester City College G4S See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 
			 Send Surrey Library Service NOMS 32,099 32,099 32,099 33,811 
			 Shepton Mallet Somerset County Council NOMS 29,866 29,866 29,866 See Note 6 
			 Shrewsbury Shropshire County Council NOMS 37,822 37,822 37,822 See Note 6 
			 Stafford Staffordshire County Council NOMS 75,697 75,697 75,697 76,191 
			 Standford Hill Kent County Council NOMS 54,496 54,496 54,496 54,881 
			 Stocken Rutland County Council NOMS 80,733 80,733 80,733 82,991 
			 Stoke Heath Shropshire County Council NOMS 72,055 72,055 72,055 74,100 
			 Styal Cheshire County Council NOMS 54,434 54,434 54,434 54,430 
		
	
	
		
			 Sudbury Derbyshire County Council NOMS 66,113 66,113 66,113 66,575 
			 Swaleside Kent County Council NOMS 86,979 86,979 86,979 91,328 
			 Swansea City and County of Swansea Library Service Welsh Government 45,500 37,839 37,633 37,632 
			 Swinfen Hall Staffordshire County Council NOMS 71,489 71,489 71,489 71,901 
			 Thameside Serco Serco See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 
			 Thorn Cross Warrington Borough Council NOMS 37,667 37,667 37,667 37,666 
			 Usk/Prescoed Monmouthshire County Library Service Welsh Government 39,685 35,648 32,190 33,021 
			 Verne Dorset County Council NOMS 66,330 66,330 66,330 64,486 
			 Wakefield Wakefield City Council NOMS 78,219 78,219 78,219 78,744 
			 Wandsworth London Borough of Wandsworth NOMS 133,311 133,311 133,311 155,002 
			 Warren Hill Suffolk County Council NOMS 26,345 26,345 26,345 32,271 
			 Wayland Norfolk County Council NOMS 87,143 87,143 87,143 88,040 
			 Wealstun Leeds City Council NOMS 97,390 80,923 80,923 82,005 
			 Wellingborough Northamptonshire County Council NOMS 69,489 69,489 69,489 See Note 6 
			 Werrington Staffordshire County Council NOMS 25,003 25,003 25,003 30,934 
			 Wetherby Leeds City Council NOMS 48,773 48,773 48,773 48,725 
			 Whatton Nottinghamshire County Council NOMS 80,808 80,808 80,808 82,892 
			 Whitemoor Cambridgeshire County Council NOMS 49,393 49,393 49,393 49,719 
			 Winchester Hampshire County Council NOMS 75,154 75,154 75,154 75,346 
			 Wolds Currently in transition NOMS See Note 5 See Note 5 See Note 5 40,000 
			 Woodhill Northamptonshire County Council NOMS 80,778 80,778 80,778 80,824 
			 Wormwood Scrubs London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham NOMS 91,017 91,017 91,017 91,548 
			 Wymott Lancashire County Council NOMS 89,512 89,512 89,512 92,500 
			 Grand Total — — 8,166,055 7,992,588 8,209,179 7,993,931 
			 Notes: 1. The figures show the amount allocated by NOMS to prison establishments for library services. The amount spent by the prison may have been slightly different. 2. The budget may not all have been spent with the library provider but for example, may have been spent locally on infrastructure. 3. Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) are not included. 4. The library provider may have changed over time. 5. Private Prison, figure not separately identified. 6. Closed. 7. Acklington and Castington merged into one establishment called Northumberland. 8. Hatfield included in Moorland figure. 9. Formerly within Lindholme. 10. Not yet open.

Prisons: Libraries

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what books are banned from being kept in prison libraries.

Jeremy Wright: Prison Service Instruction 45/2011 states that censorship will not usually be exercised except in the case of offensive or illegal material. Some materials may be banned by the prison governor on a case-by-case basis.
	The Custodial Public Protection Manual contains a list of publications that prisoners are not allowed to possess. It focuses on child sex offending. No books on the list are obtainable through prison libraries. Apart from this, the Ministry of Justice does not maintain a list of books which are not allowed to be kept in prison libraries.

Prisons: Mobile Phones

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many times the offence of possession of mobile telephones within a prison has been proceeded upon; and how many days were added to the offender's sentence in each case.

Jeremy Wright: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) takes the issue of mobile phones in prisons very seriously and is committed to addressing the risks they present to both the security of prisons and the safety of the public.
	NOMS has implemented a multi-layered approach: to minimise the number of mobile phones entering prisons, to find phones that do get in and to disrupt mobile phones that cannot be found. A range of technology has been rolled out to prisons to strengthen searching and security, including portable mobile phone signal detectors, Body Orifice Security Scanners (BOSS chairs), high sensitivity metal detecting wands and short range portable mobile phone blockers.
	The adjudication process exists to allow prison governors to deal with breaches of prison discipline, including possession of unauthorised items such as mobile telephones.
	From centrally held data, it is not possible to identify those offenders who breached prison discipline by possessing a mobile phone, were proceeded against and given the punishment of additional days. The prison adjudication offence details held centrally are not of sufficient detail to identify the specific breach item—mobile phone possession offences are grouped with other prohibited items.
	Determining if the requested information is held would require a manual search through all individual prison records where a breach of prison discipline led to adjudication in respect of possession of a prohibited item to see if any information is recorded on the type of item. Inspecting each record to ascertain if there was an adjudication for possession of a mobile phone and how many additional days were given as a punishment could be done only at disproportionate cost.

Prisons: Private Sector

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  on which occasions performance points were accrued by private prisons in 2013-14; for what reason the points were accrued; and what financial penalties were attached in each case;
	(2)  what financial penalties have been levied against those running private prisons in each year since 2010-11.

Jeremy Wright: On the question of what financial penalties have been levied against those running private prisons in each year since 2010-11, I refer the right hon. Member to the response sent to him in November 2013, under PQ 165769, which can be found on Hansard under the reference 4 December 2013, Official Report, column 705W.
	The data presented is based on total number of performance points accrued for the relevant periods. This does not take into account credit points awarded to Contractors and offset against total performance points for the period. Financial remedies are only applicable when performance point baseline targets are exceeded for the period.
	Please note, data relating to the fourth quarter of 2013-14 is pending approval and not available for release at this time. Data for the following prisons are also not available and awaiting verification and validation by the parties:
	HMP Birmingham
	HMP Doncaster
	HMP Dovegate
	HMP Forest Bank
	HMP Oakwood
	HMP Thameside
	This information will be available later in the year.
	It is important to note that performance points presented in table 1, which will be placed in the Library, are essentially about operational efficiency, and at no point has public safety been at risk. There are no significant historical trends in the figures and it is fair to say that privately managed prisons achieve the majority of their contractual targets with proportionately low levels of performance points and financial remedies applied as a result. The data for each contract is closely monitored by MOJ staff and any emerging or sustained performance failures are discussed in detail with the relevant contractor in order to rectify performance shortfalls as quickly as possible.

Private Sector

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many jobs have been transferred from the public to the private sector as a result of privatisations or outsourcing by his Department since May 2010.

Shailesh Vara: It has not been possible to obtain this information. I will write to the hon. Member in due course.

Public Defender Service

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he has further plans to expand the Public Defender Service beyond the first phase of recruits.

Shailesh Vara: We are still concluding the recruitment campaign from 20 January 2014 and expect some further appointments to the PDS to be confirmed as a result of that.
	In the current circumstances the Government will take the necessary steps to ensure availability of representation in Very High Cost Cases in which legally aided defendants are currently unrepresented. This could include increasing the capacity of the Public Defender Service. It remains open to the self-employed Bar to accept instructions on these cases, and we would welcome the maximum possible participation of the self-employed Bar in this regard.

Reoffenders

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 3 March 2014, Official Report, column 641W, on reoffenders, what (a) offence type and (b) sentence length each offender with more than one fixed term recall is serving.

Jeremy Wright: It has not been possible to obtain this information. I will write to my hon. Friend in due course.

Reoffenders

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the highest number of previous convictions for burglary for an individual convicted of an offence of burglary without being sent to prison was in each year since 2010.

Jeremy Wright: It has not been possible to obtain this information. I will write to my hon. Friend in due course.

Reoffenders

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people with 15 or more previous convictions were not sent to prison on conviction for (a) burglary and (b) violence against the person in the latest period for which figures are available.

Jeremy Wright: It has not been possible to obtain this information. I will write to my hon. Friend in due course.

Reoffenders

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the proven re-offending rate was of (a) those released from prison and (b) those released from prison who self-identified as Muslim in each year since 2010.

Jeremy Wright: The latest proven reoffending rates for those offenders released from prison can be found in tables 1 and 2 follow. Table 1 provides overall proven reoffending rates for offenders released from prison and has been taken from the Proven Reoffending Statistics Quarterly Bulletin series. Table 2 provides proven reoffending rates for Muslim offenders released from prison.
	A proven reoffence is defined as any offence committed in a one year follow-up period resulting in a court conviction, caution, reprimand or warning in the one year follow-up. Following this one year follow-up, a further six month waiting period is allowed for the offence to be proven in court.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. A prisoner’s religion is self declared and prisoners are under no obligation to declare.
	
		
			 Table 1: Proven reoffending rates of offenders released from prison for England and Wales 
			  Number of offenders in cohort1 Proportion of offenders who reoffend (%) 
			 July 2011 to June 2012 60,689 45.5 
			 January 2011 to December 2011 59,313 46.4 
			 January 2010 to December 2010 56,284 47.5 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Proven reoffending rates of Muslim offenders released from prison for England and Wales 
			  Number of offenders in cohort1 Proportion of offenders who reoffend (%) 
			 July 2011 to June 2012 5,102 36.3 
			 January 2011 to December 2011 4,852 37.1 
			 January 2010 to December 20102 - - 
			 1 A certain proportion of offenders could not be matched to the Police National Computer (PNC) and are, therefore, not included. Therefore, this number does not represent all proven offenders. 2 Data on offenders’ religious beliefs are not available for 2010 due to data quality issues following the introduction of a new prison IT system.

Secure Colleges

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent representations he has received from Ofsted on his plans to introduce secure colleges.

Jeremy Wright: In April 2013, Ofsted submitted a response to the Government’s Transforming Youth Custody consultation, which set out our proposals for secure colleges.
	The Government values the important role Ofsted performs in inspecting the provision of support and education in the custodial estate for under-18s. We are therefore legislating in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill for Ofsted, along with Her Majesty’s inspectorate of prisons (HMIP) to have a duty to inspect secure colleges.
	My officials have regular discussions with Ofsted in relation to the inspection of youth custody, and are discussing with them, in conjunction with HMIP, arrangements for the inspection of secure colleges.

Sentencing

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people who (a) were given a non-custodial sentence and (b) were given their first custodial sentence in each year from 2004 had previously had (i) no criminal convictions, (ii) one criminal conviction, (iii) two criminal convictions, (iv) three criminal convictions, (v) four criminal convictions, (vi) five to 10 criminal convictions, (vii) 11 to 20 criminal convictions, (viii) 21 to 30 criminal convictions, (ix) 31 to 40 criminal convictions, (x) 41 to 50 criminal convictions, (xi) 51 to 75 criminal convictions, (xii) 76 to 100 criminal convictions and (xiii) more than 100 criminal convictions.

Jeremy Wright: It has not been possible to obtain this information. I will write to the hon. Member in due course.

Sexual Assault Referral Centres

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Sexual Assault Referral Centres in supporting victims of crime.

Damian Green: Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) are commissioned jointly by NHS England, individual police forces and police and crime commissioners. Although the Ministry of Justice have not undertaken any recent assessments into the effectiveness of sexual assault centres in supporting victims of crime, NHS England ensure that Sexual Assault Services are commissioned in ways that support consistently high standards of care and quality across the country through the Public Health Oversight Group. NHS England is currently undertaking a review of these commissioning processes.

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice at how many tribunal hearings on appeals over benefit claims in each of the last four years the relevant Department failed to send a presenting officer; and how many such hearings were lost by the Government.

Shailesh Vara: The First-tier Tribunal—Social Security and Child Support (SSCS), administered by HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) decisions on a range of benefits. It also hears appeals against local authorities on housing benefit decisions.
	A table will be placed in the Library which shows the data requested for each year from 1 April 2010 until December 2013 (the latest period for data is available).
	It is a matter for the relevant Department or local authority as to whether they send a presenting Officer to an appeal unless directed to do so by the Tribunal. Departments and local authorities will consider each appeal on a case by case basis.

Squatting

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) court possession orders and (b) interim possession orders in relation to squatting in non-residential buildings have been made since the introduction of the criminal offence of squatting in a residential building; and how many such orders were made in the equivalent period preceding this law being implemented.

Shailesh Vara: While we hold records on the total number of possession orders and interim possession orders applied for and granted by the civil courts, our databases do not show what proportion of these related to non-residential buildings or, in the case of possession orders, actions against trespassers. Such information could only be obtained by manually checking court case files at a disproportionate cost.

Television: Licensing

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people in England and Wales per 10,000 of the population were prosecuted for non-payment of the television licence fee in each of the last three calendar years.

Shailesh Vara: The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences relating to installing or using a television receiver without the appropriate licence, per 10,000 of the population in England and Wales for the years 2010 to 2012 is shown in table 1. The Government has indicated that, in line with the amendment to the Deregulation Bill, it will consider whether evasion of a television licence should continue to be a criminal offence.
	It should be noted that court proceedings statistics for the year 2013 are planned to be published by the Ministry of Justice on 15 May 2014.
	
		
			 Defendants proceeded against at magistrates court for Television licence evasion, per 10,000 of the population, England and Wales, 2010-20121, 2 
			  Number 
			 2010 33.5 
			 2011 34.5 
		
	
	
		
			 2012 38.8 
			 1 The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice

Thameside Prison

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many grievances on the grounds of race discrimination have been made in HM Prison Thameside in the last three years; what the nature was of each such grievance; when each grievance was made and resolved; and what the outcome was in each case;
	(2)  how many employment tribunal cases were presented on the grounds of race discrimination in HM Prison Thameside in the last three years; what the nature was of each complaint; when each such tribunal began and ended; what the outcome was in each such case; and what the cost to the public purse was of defending such cases.

Jeremy Wright: The Government is committed to ensuring equality throughout the criminal justice system. Internal complaints procedures and the employment tribunal system enable any allegations of racial discrimination in the workplace to be thoroughly investigated.
	Two staff grievances alleging discrimination have been submitted at HMP Thameside in the last three years.
	The first, which alleged bullying at work, racial discrimination, unfair treatment and victimisation, was received in 12 October 2012. It was considered by the Employment Tribunal at two hearings (October 2013 and in December 2013). The Tribunal dismissed the claim in its entirety in January 2014.
	The second grievance, alleging unfair dismissal, racial discrimination, victimisation and harassment, was received in March 2013. It is currently being considered by the Employment Tribunal.
	Liability for any legal costs in relation to employment cases would fall on the employer.

Thameside Prison

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether any (a) internal and (b) external reports were commissioned by Serco in relation to any steps taken by HM Prison Thameside to eliminate race discrimination in the workplace.

Jeremy Wright: The Government is committed to ensuring equality throughout the criminal justice system. Internal complaints procedures and the employment tribunal system enable any allegations of racial discrimination in the workplace to be thoroughly investigated.
	The Ministry of Justice conducted a routine assurance audit of HMP Thameside in 2013.
	Any internal document prepared by the contractor in relation to potential litigation is legally privileged and therefore exempt from disclosure.

Trade Unions

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department has any plans to end the employee trade union membership dues check-off system.

Shailesh Vara: The Ministry of Justice does not currently have any plans to end the employee trade union membership dues check-off system. However arrangements of this sort are kept under review.

Youth Custody

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans his Department has to increase the average hours a week of contracted education provided for 15 to 17-year-olds in custody.

Jeremy Wright: At present 15 to 17-year-olds in young offender institutions (YOIs) receive an average of only 12 hours contracted education a week. We have recently set out our plans for transforming youth custody and putting education at the heart of detention, and at the same time launched a competition for new education contracts in public sector YOIs which will more than double the time young people spend in education. In addition, we are seeking to put education at the heart of the YOI regime by bringing the head teacher overseeing education into the senior management team of the establishment.

Youth Custody

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the unit cost per offender in a (a) secure children's home, (b) young offender institution, (c) secure training centre and (d) the adult secure estate was in each year since 2010.

Jeremy Wright: We are continuing to reduce costs in both adult prisons and the youth secure estate as one of the key priorities for the Ministry of Justice.
	Youth Custody
	I refer the right hon. Member to a written answer provided for a similar parliamentary question relating to average costs of a place in youth custody. This information can be found at the following link:
	http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm130627/text/130627w0002.htm#13062787000502
	(Hansard reference : 161445)
	Adult Secure Estate
	The Department routinely publishes average costs per prisoner and prison place, including those for adult prisons and young offender institutions, based on actual net resource expenditure for each private and public sector prison, and in summary form for the whole of the prison estate in England and Wales on an annual basis after the end of each financial year.
	The information for financial years 2010-11 and 2011-12 is published as an Addendum to the NOMS annual report and accounts and available on the Department’s website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-2011-12
	The published figures for 2010-11 are restated to enable a more accurate comparison with 2011-12 figures.
	The most recently published figures for financial year 2012-13 is also published alongside the NOMS annual report and accounts and available on the Department’s website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201213
	Copies of these are also placed in the House Library.
	Full details for average costs per prisoner and prison place for financial year 2013-14 are not yet finalised.

Youth Custody

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many days were lost due to sick leave among teaching staff in (a) secure training centres and (b) young offender institutions in each of the last four years.

Jeremy Wright: Sickness absence is measured as the average working days lost per staff year, which is the measure used across all Government Departments. Sickness rates in Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) have fallen in recent years. An average of 16.8 working days were lost in 2002-03, compared to 10.8 in 2012-13.
	Figures for average working days lost for prisons in the YOIs are used in the Prison Rating System and have been published annually since 2011-12 as part of the data set that accompanies the published ratings.
	Figures for 2012-13 can be found on the 'Data' sheet of the published spreadsheet at the following location:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/225231/prs-data-12-13.xls
	Figures for 2011-12 are available here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/218342/prison-rating-system-2011-12.xls
	Figures for 2010-11 can be seen in the following table.
	
		
			 Table: Average number of working days lost per member of staff due to sickness related absence in Young Offender Institutions in England and Wales, 2010-11 
			 Establishment Average working days lost1 
			 Aylesbury 12.5 
			 Brinsford 12.1 
			 Castington 9.9 
			 Deerbolt 9.7 
			 Feltham 11.7 
			 Glen Parva 4.5 
			 Hindley 15.4 
			 Lancaster Farms 12.5 
			 Northallerton 10.1 
			 Portland 12.1 
			 Reading 13.3 
			 Rochester 11.4 
			 Stoke Heath 11.0 
		
	
	
		
			 Swinfen Hall 8.5 
			 Warren Hill 12.5 
			 1 Average Working Days Lost is calculated as the number of full time equivalent days lost due to sickness related absence divided by the average number of full time equivalent staff in post. Notes: 1. Figures for Dovegate and Lowdham Grange were provided by private contractors for calendar year 2010 instead of for financial year 2010-11. 2. Figures for 2013-14 will be published on 31 July 2014 in the Management Information Addendum to the NOMS Annual Report 2013-14. 
			 1 Average Working Days Lost is calculated as the number of full time equivalent days lost due to sickness related absence divided by the average number of full time equivalent staff in post. Notes: 1. Figures for Dovegate and Lowdham Grange were provided by private contractors for calendar year 2010 instead of for financial year 2010-11. 2. Figures for 2013-14 will be published on 31 July 2014 in the Management Information Addendum to the NOMS Annual Report 2013-14. 
		
	
	Data are not held centrally for average days lost for staff in Secure Training Centres or teaching staff in Young Offender Institutions. The contracts for Secure Training Centres and education provision in Young Offender Institutions specify the levels of service required and these are monitored against delivery. It is for the operators to ensure they have the necessary staffing complement to deliver against the contract.

Youth Custody

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many teaching staff in young offender institutions and secure training centres in 2013 had a formal teaching qualification;
	(2)  how many full time equivalent teaching staff there were in total in young offender institutions and secure training centres in each of the last four years.

Jeremy Wright: We are committed under the Transforming Youth Custody programme to improving education outcomes for young people in custody. Our proposals for Secure Colleges, and to radically improve the education provided in Young Offenders Institutions, will place education at the heart of youth custody and provide young offenders with skills, qualifications and self-discipline they require to build a life free from crime.
	The amount of education delivered to young people in Young Offender Institutions and Secure Training Centres is clearly defined and monitored through contractual arrangements with providers. We believe that these expert educational providers are best placed to determine how—at a local level—to secure education outcomes for the young people they are working with. As such we do not collect data centrally on the staff they employ.

Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority

David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many decision makers were employed for work in each region by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013.

Damian Green: The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) divides its case work between six teams, each of which handles applications from a particular region of Great Britain. When the need arises they also create cross-regional special exercise teams to carry out projects. All of these teams work from a single office. Northern Ireland has a separate Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, which CICA does not administer. The six regional teams are numbered as follows:
	1. Scotland and Wales
	2. North-West England
	3. North-East England
	4. Midlands
	5. South England
	6. London
	CICA publish detailed datasets of their staff numbers broken down by job title, but these do not specify which regional team someone works in. The table sets out how many staff CICA employed on the dates specified, and how many of those were senior decision makers (SDMs) and decision makers (DMs) in each region. CICA may move staff between regions throughout the year to fill temporary staff vacancies or address variances in the number of cases each region is handling. These figures do not show if staff were temporarily redeployed to assist another region on the date specified.
	In recent years CICA have invested in improved technology and introduced more efficient processes which have allowed them to reduce administration costs while maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction.
	
		
			  Number of SDMs Number of DMs Number of staff 
			 31 March 2011 Region 1-2 Region 2-1 Region 3-3 Region 4-2 Region 5-3 Region 6-3 Special exercise-1 Region 1-6 Region 2-11 Region 3-6 Region 4-7 Region 5-5 Region 6-7 Special exercise-4 443 
			 31 March 2012 Region 1-2 Region 2-3 Region 3-1 Region 4-3 Region 5-3 Region 6-3 Region 1-3 Region 2-6 Region 3-5 Region 4-6 Region 5-7 Region 6-7 407 
			 31 March 2013 Region 1-2 Region 2-1 Region 3-0 Region 4-5 Region 5-3 Region 6-2 Special exercise-4 Region 1-5 Region 2-7 Region 3-6 Region 4-6 Region 5-8 Region 6-7 Special exercise-2 369

Prisoners: Repatriation

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many foreign national prisoners were transferred to secure detention in their home country under (a) compulsory and (b) voluntary prisoner transfer agreements in each of the last five years.

Jeremy Wright: The following table sets out the number of prisoners who have transferred from a prison in England and Wales to a prison in their state of nationality in the last five years on both a compulsory and voluntary basis.
	
		
			 Year of transfer Voluntary transfer Compulsory 
			 2009 40 — 
			 2010 46 — 
			 2011 33 — 
			 2012 40 — 
			 2013 38 5 
		
	
	With the implementation of the Council Framework Decision 2008/909/JHA (The EU PTA) by the United Kingdom in December 2011 prisoners can be transferred on a voluntary or compulsory basis. Since the implementation of the EU PTA in December 2011, a total 18 EU member states, including the United Kingdom, have brought the EU PTA into force.
	Compulsory prisoner transfer agreements can be difficult to negotiate, but we remain determined to secure them wherever possible. In January this year we signed a compulsory transfer agreement with Nigeria and last year we signed an agreement with Albania. We expect to see prisoner transfers to both these countries before the end of this year.
	We are also working hard to increase the number of foreign national offenders removed from prison under the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) and the Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS). In 2013 we removed nearly 2,000 FNOs under ERS and under TERS, which we introduced in May 2012 we have removed 237 prisoners to date.
	The numbers reported here are drawn from a Prison Service Case Tracking System. Care is taken when processing these cases but the figures may be subject to inaccuracies associated with any recording system.